From the Ashes
by Houdini
Summary: Four years later, Reaper and Sam are forced to go as field consultants with an investigating team to the now abandoned base at Nevada.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My fic based on the movie. I played only the earlier versions of doom so I'm not really well versed with the latest gaming scene.

I don't anybody except the unfamiliar names.

**From the Ashes**

Prologue:

_Tired, exhausted, barely clothed and bleeding._

_She wanted to stop and vomit._

_The only thing that kept her running was fear. The only thing that kept her safe was her fear. Her body was beginning to protest. Slowly, fear didn't make her run as much as the desire to breathe made her stop. Her feet were cold and blistered._

_She didn't stop._

_She knew that every minute wasted – would bring them closer._

_Violent shouts could be heard in the darkness. She took the path around the radiation chamber._

_The chamber._

_She skid to halt and ran backwards, fluidly into the room and hauled its heavy lead door to a halt, and screwing it shut she leaned her back against it and allowed herself to breathe. _

_Deep, painful breaths. In. Out._

_She had to live._

_Everyone was dead._

_But she had to live. She had to get to her uncle. She had to keep her father's secrets safe._

_After that she would die. There was nothing to live for._

_A creaking sound was heard. Her eyes snapped open._

_Oh no! The other door!_

_She sprang around the darkened room and found the space behind the uranium cathode. She crouched and forced her breathing to slow._

_The second door moaned as it opened. The slim tube of light, belonging to the flashlight of a shotgun scanned the room. She closed her eyes and prayed as the footsteps got closer and the whispers became louder._

"_This place looks clear." Someone whispered._

_Why were they whispering? Maybe they wanted to trap her._

"_Should we turn the lights on?"_

"_No." Came another voice. "They don't know we're here. Let's keep it that way."_

_She bit her lip. Were there two groups involved then? Oh God! Why didn't the government protect them? Why couldn't they have gotten better guards?_

_She closed her eyes to shut down the memory of blood and bullet wounds. She couldn't cry now – grief could come later._

_She had to get out of here. She had to get to the river – to the hovercraft and to her uncle._

_A sudden sound made her flinch._

_It was the sound of a boot crunching on some glass. Someone swore and she could hear the sound of them bending. _

_Oh please don't let them look around. Please._

"_What the…!" the voice, she assumed belonging to the person closest to her came._

"_What?"_

"_There's blood on the floor." He whispered._

"_What?"_

"_It's leading to…"_

_She didn't wait to find out. Like the roar of a hyena attacking she screamed and jumped out of her hiding slamming into the man hunched over her own blood. She had the element of surprise._

_She pushed him over and ran through the barricades of large men – all who were two surprised to hold her._

_She had just reached the open door when her arm got caught and her legs swung up into the air and she landed on her rear – painfully._

_The sounds of men swearing in confusion were drowned by her shrill screams. She punched her fists against the hand that held her._

"_Hey! Hey! Calm her down!"_

_She spat onto his face and bit his arm. _

"_Oww!" he pulled back._

_She ran for her life._

_Or so she thought._

_She had forgotten that this way led straight to the very place she was running away from._

_And she paid for it. Ramming straight into the man whose raping she had just escaped._

"_There you are, my feisty little bitch! Daddy's little genius, aren't you? Little _whore_?" His spittle hit her face. "Let's taint this pretty face then?"_

_His voice drowned out of her ears as the sight of his hand raising met her eyes. _

_The guttural scream in her throat did not ease the pain of the sickle striking her face…_

"_NOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

_There was a ringing in her head. Like someone banging her head against a metallic door._

She wasn't screaming when her eyes opened. The scream had died in her head as her dream faded into her reality. She was in her bunker, bathed in sweat – breathing heavily.

She jumped up as her comm started to beep.

Heaving a sigh of relief she wiped her face and reached for the comm.

Just a bad dream, she began to think. Then she paused in her thoughts.

No.

Not a dream – a memory.

Genghis Krycek pensively surveyed squad in front of him. They stood in front of his desk in a perfect semicircle to perfect attention. He scrutinized each member, from the next in line to the rookie. Their demeanor was flawless as always, he had no reason to look for discrepancies. The only reason he observed each face was due to the unusual nature of the directive.

Sergeant Geiger Krycek was formerly known as 'Genghis' for a reason. He was a slave driver with no sympathy, a blatant womanizer and had probably fathered several bastards and the only thing that kept him from killing his superiors was the fact that such an action would prejudice his chances at rising to the top.

Genghis was hated by every woman in the army. Those, whom he slept with, learnt at the end of their poor roll in the sack that he was a selfish pig and those whom he hadn't as yet slept with already knew his reputation. The psychological assessment on his file attributed his promiscuity to a 'blatant disrespect and disregard for women' and recommended that 'no female officer be assigned to him, in the interest of maintaining peace and decorum within the marines'.

Genghis would never admit that he hated women, but there was truth to the fact that could care less for their feelings – though he showed it in a different way – he hated them because he was the 'sonova' hoe' and was abandoned when he was ten. So the recommendation worked just fine for him. It wouldn't have been a tough job, there were a handful of women who had reached the level of special operations and fewer who were eligible for the RRTS and perhaps only four who had reached the Rangers.

And since Genghis commanded the unit, of those four only one survived. The first one got herself killed, two transferred out slapping sexual harassment allegations on him. Out of the two enquiries, one he was bailed out of by the girl's sergeant testifying against her and with other he got probation for two weeks. The reason an asshole like Genghis got off the hook so easily was because he was the bloody best and he trained his men to be the best and rewarded them equally well. His missions had a ninety percent success rate until three years ago.

Since three years it had a ninety-eight percent success rate and his eyes froze on the only woman who had survived the squad, to whom he secretly attributed the improvement to.

She had not been part of his unit – neither was she a member of special ops. They had bumped into each other when their mission had gone horribly wrong on Deimos. All RRTS units had been utilized and they had needed reinforcements, the young Ensign Quinn was the only one of the reinforcements who survived.

Perhaps the reason Genghis found respect for Quinn was that in 10 days in Deimos – though Genghis would not admit it in public – he believed they managed to survive and get out of there, thanks to Quinn's instincts and skills.

She was very a good soldier. She spoke only when spoken too, even then, if only she needed to – the rest of the talking was done by her gun and those haunting grey eyes of hers. Her skinny appearance cloaked her amazing combat skills – skills he suspected were not learnt in training. She knew how to leverage against a larger opponent and her aim was precise.

It seemed, she possessed the one thing men thrice her size vied for – lack of fear.

Her psychological assessment attributed that to be a bad thing. It seemingly 'made her cold and rash, a potential emotional volcano, unwilling to uncover some deep personal anguish which might therefore erupt at the wrong time.' She also had a peculiar disinterest towards the prospect of death. She had a certain stubbornness when it came to death. Neither did she fear to go after it, given her reckless habits, nor did it seem to fear to come after her, given her long list of near fatal experiences. At the end of the day, if ever they thought she was dead – chances were she would resurface from nowhere – and it was why her peers in RRTS called her 'Phoenix'.

Genghis surprised everyone, including himself at petitioning a request for her to be inducted in specialist operations and specially trained for the Rangers Squad. Phoenix did not show an inch of excitement on her face – but he assumed the widening of her eyes when he told her about his idea to be happiness.

Phoenix never showed anything on her face.

It annoyed him, initially. If she liked something there would be a small bleak smile, if she didn't like something her mouth would be set in a thin line. She hardly refused orders – in the event of such a case, it would simply be because she knew better. But if she didn't agree with an order, she showed it by simply not following it, proving her superiors wrong. No outbursts – no 'but sirs'. If she spoke, her voice was cold and impassive.

It was a mean quality and it irritated a lot of explosive men – who had could find no argument to her stoic silence and had it not been for Genghis' support Quinn would have been chucked out of the marines a long time ago.

It was his men who were the first to eventually get used to her unusually non-social behavior – and learned that the best way to understand was to keep eye contact with her – it was the only window to her mind. Phoenix was never obtrusive to the Gophers – her quietness had become a part of them.

Along the side of her pale face, across her left brow ran an angry scar which had just seemingly missed her grey eyes – though it was light, it had once belonged to a deep wound and it was the first thing any layman would notice about her. It would be considered a disfigurement to any woman, and it didn't help Quinn's appearance, for that matter. The scar, she had told him, was from her childhood and was made by a farmer's sickle, and that was all she said about it. Genghis having known rejection all his life realized she might have been denied a hell lot because of that disfigurement – and gained a sense of protectiveness towards her. After three bar incidents it had become clear to all marines that no man could dare to call her 'scarface' and get out of that bar without suffering some shameful dismemberment at Genghis' hand.

Genghis looked at the files displayed on the console of each officer.

This was going to be hard to explain.

"At ease." He said. He could have sworn he saw relief on the rookie's face when the boy assumed the new position.

The Rangers were a special branch of Special Operations twice as elite as RRTS. Each member was an army in itself. Their duties were restricted not to containment but to investigation and assessment of situations that would compromise the militia. The member of each squad was qualified for a specific duty.

Since Olduvai and Deimos, the Rangers were a busy lot. The whole scenario changed the attitude of the armed forced to the UAC. Every operation of that was allied to the military, which in the case of UAC were several was thoroughly investigation, screened and approved. Separate RRTS squads were assigned as security.

Genghis and a whole lot of other soldiers were actually glad that the UAC had lost their autonomy. The bloody corporation had cost them too many men.

"New game, ladies," he said. Genghis called them ladies because he knew it ticked them off and there was not a damn thing they could do about it. Samuel o'Riley flinched a little. Genghis let it pass. Unlike other sergeants who were all pally-pally and informal with their men, Genghis demanded protocol. He liked it – it satisfied his unfulfilled childhood desire for attention. He would never hold their 'manners' against them, of course, but he liked to give the impression that he would.

"We have ourselves a situation down at a research facility that is no longer used. I am authorized to disclose this location only after we are airborne."

Silence.

"Situation is classified but you will be informed of the details on arrival. Funny – yeah I know."

Silence.

"We also have been given an additional order. Accompanying us for a classified purpose will be two civilian personnel."

Silence.

"Any questions?"

This was the interesting part – his men knew better than to interrupt him until he said that line, and when he asked them that – it intimidated them enough not to ask.

Sam o'Riley spoke first. "Sir, why are we having civilian personnel coming with us?"

"I just told you, you dickhead, that reason is _classified_."

Laker Smith, snorted and covered his snort up with a question. "Are their identities classified, too, sir?

"No. John Grimm and Samantha Grimm."

The startled expressions he had expected from the men – but not from the young Phoenix.

The Grimms were not unknown through out the ranks – after the Olduvai incident – the scandal, UAC's losses, the court marshalling – the Reaper's acquittal – it had just been around four years ago. Just before the Deimos bloodbath. Reaper had left the corps and no one knew what became of him or his sister.

It seemed that the twins being assigned to this mission, might give change its importance. If _they_ were coming – then this just wasn't any search, find out and destroy job.

Genghis sighed as he stared at the directive. He had a really bad feeling about this one.

"When do we report for –" Smith started to say.

"Three hours." Genghis cut him off. "Dismissed."

He needed to think.

After the whole affair 3 years ago, Officer Grimm had left the army, Dr. Grimm left the UAC job and from what Genghis read on the file they had been found working in some small town, John Grimm worked in his own auto-garage. His sister worked at a local school. It seemed as if they wanted never to be found.

The four bulky MP escorts standing on either side of each sibling was a sign that they wouldn't be happy campers. Both the Grimms had an expression which read 'gonna take the first chance to get outta here'; John showed perfect disdain and Samantha – Genghis assumed the hot girl twin was the one with better manners.

The Grimms were waiting by the transport dock when the team assembled. There was nothing said, except for the usual pleasantries which weren't even remotely pleasant. John Grimm, looking a little stronger than he used to four years ago scrutinized each soldier of the Rangers, his eyes pausing in surprise at seeing a woman among the legendary Genghis' group of men. Genghis liked to see that surprise – he could almost imagine the thought running through the man's head. 'Genghis the dick, actually has a woman on board?'

Phoenix was a smart lady; she never needed to be told what to do, without being a wisepants. Oh yeah – Phoenix knew how to be the perfect handmaid and kick hard ass at the same time. She dismissed the MPs and offered to assist Dr. Grimm to her seat.

Actually, the only thing she did was give a cold stare to the MPs and a polite nod to Ms. Grimm in direction of the bay. Not one word, said. The unit was used to her behavior – so they didn't find her command on people without having to say a word, impressive.

On Reaper Grimm, however, and impression was made. His irate expression changed to one of wonder as Phoenix escorted Samantha Grimm to the bay – his eyes never leaving the lithe woman's frame.

Funny, Genghis thought. He swore he could have seen some sort of reaction on Phoenix's face when her eyes met John's and she turned.

For a ridiculous moment it seemed almost as though she didn't want to look at him – it actually seemed like fear.

---

Like every author I thrive on reviews so please please do review


	2. Chapter 2

-2-

It had been four years since he had last been in a chopper. Four years since he had been to Nevada. Four years since anyone had visited Nevada.

The place was shut down and sealed off all operations. No research was conducted there – or so everyone was told. After the Olduvai incident UAC's every move was watched. Even if they wanted to - reopening Nevada was out of the question.

Any form of life, any signal coming from Nevada base was improbable. Something must have infiltrated the base. Something had to have infiltrated the base.

This was what General Clayton told him.

Unsurprisingly, John did not accept it as the complete truth.

Something was fishy – up at Nevada. Something they weren't telling him. Something, because of which he knew for sure none of these men, would come out of the place alive.

Ah fuck it! Their lives were their own problems. He was only here for Sam's sake. He didn't give a rat's ass about how and by what means – all he knew was there one person, for sure, would come out alive and safe at the end of this mission.

His sister.

Clayton knew exactly _how_ to use his assets against a foe. Even if the foe was a discredited soldier. He didn't need to threaten John, he knew that wouldn't work. He couldn't threaten Sam – because cowardice was not his style.

No.

He used the easiest possible way to convince him. Make Sam part of the job.

It wasn't hard to coerce her. They told her that they would erase John's record and he could live freely. They didn't have to hide any more. They didn't even need to try the 'we'll give you the life you've always wanted' or 'you can come and work for u, again' tactics. No. Clayton paid the visit to her tiny house himself and gave it to her flat. John always respected the good general for his honesty and reluctance to beat about the bush.

John hadn't exactly committed a crime at Nevada. He had followed all SOPs. The only charged he and Sam were faced with was not reporting the exposure to test chemical. John and Sam, conveniently, forgot to mention that on their field reports.

_He_ wasn't ready to get probes up his ass. _She_ knew they would do worse if they learnt.

Had the logs at Nevada not been retrieved they would have gotten away with it.

For the time of the trial that he was held in custody he went through hell. Needles, probes, scans and a billion questions with no cash prize. Larry, their lawyer, saved his ass. Getting him out before they could actually cut him open. Though, their arguments did not hold up to acquittal in the court marshalling, they were strong enough to keep him and her out of bars and therefore out of the hands of curious scientists. They ran away and thought they were safe.

Until General Clayton paid a visit.

John knew, they couldn't care less about his record – the charge they used now was the fact that he did not report for his half-yearly hearings. Something, according to them, they could slap shackles on his arms for.

John and Sam fought and argued the whole weekend. He'd go to their freakin' prison, he'd clean freakin' battlement floors, he'd endure all their freakin' tests, if he had to, he'd do anything that would keep them out of UAC business. Especially her.

She would not allow him to be vulnerable to the scientists at the UAC or Military research. They would dissect him out alive, she said. They were lucky the last time, she said – they wouldn't be so lucky again.

In the end, Sam won. He loved her for it and hated her for it at the same time. It's difficult having to fight your twin – even if she is fraternal. She's part of your soul – there's only so little you can do to fight your soul.

The whole ploy was to get him on the job.

He was after all their very own superhuman superman. They weren't taking any risks with Nevada, he could see that. Though it was beyond him as to why there were only eleven people on this mission.

_Four years,_ thought John. Four years, since he had heard that familiar voice. Weapon Identification. John followed the voice to the owner of each weapon.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified_

_HandleID: Poet_

Homer Kakos. Quantum Physicist.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Gamgee_

Samuel o'Riley. Foresics.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Gryffin_

Angus o'Riley, Sam's brother. Tactical and Logistics.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Bazooka. _

Oris Russo. A nearly seven foot, dark as chocolate, bald giant. Weapons.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Sandman _

Harvey Sandman. Surveillance.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Smith _

Laker Smith. Communications.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: The Hobbit_

Obviously, the newest member, He had specialized in Field surveillance in training. Jake Fullington – who very much like a rookie, took offense to the stupid nickname. John couldn't hide his smile – Fullington seemed shorter than the rest – in fact he was nearly Quinn's height. The girl being an impressive five-nine.

The sudden onset of the memory of Sarge gunning down Kid was shut out before it even sprang up.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Genghis_

Sgt. Geiger Krycek.

_Rangers Special Ops clearance verified: _

_HandleID: Phoenix_

Kelly Quinn.

Sphinx, thought John – would be more appropriate for her seemingly impassive attitude. Her role was not clearly defined.

Officer Quinn was young – you could make out from her features – but that hard expression made her look old and less feminine. Reaper knew the girl was not by far shapeless. Her auburn hair was tied back tightly, making her sharp, oval face look like an egg. Like she was trying to show that ugly scar on her forehead.

_That scar…_

"I wouldn't be caught staring at her, if I were you." Homer Kakos, 'Poet' as he was called, whispered in his ear. "Sergeant Krycek's awfully defensive about that wild gun there."

"The wild gun looks like she can take care of herself."

Poet whistled. "And don't we know it!" He mumbled. Then he game John a sarcastic grin and his voice turned steely. "But seriously, stop staring – or before Krycek gets you – I will."

Quinn's grey eyes met his own. She cocked her head to the right as if to ask, 'Is there something on my face you don't like?'

It was amazing how those eyes could communicate so well.

"So, Phoenix, huh?" said Sam, trying unsuccessfully to strike a conversation with the young woman.

Phoenix nodded.

"How was it you got that name?"

"We were going to call her Houdini," said Samuel 'Gryffin' o'Riley, "Phoenix is into pulling disappearing acts – I think, she's been declared KIA around twelve times."

"Rising from the ashes, huh?" Sam smiled. Phoenix gave a small twitch of her mouth in response.

"So, who named you Phoenix?" Sam said, awkwardly. John felt sorry for his sister – it might have been hard to strike a conversation with someone who sat like a statue.

Genghis spoke. "She was called that before she joined us." Genghis frowned, "Who suggested the title, Quinn?"

Quinn glanced at John and leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She did not speak. Poet answered for her, "Nah! It was her name long before she joined the Marines."

_Those eyes…_

Where had he seen those eyes before?

She wanted to breathe long and hard.

Phoenix kept her eyes firmly closed as she tried to force herself to breathe normally. It had been ten years – _ten_ bloody years. How old had she been then? Fourteen? Fifteen?

Ten years since she had last seen those kind brown eyes. Ten years, since that voice had forced itself through a violent pain and bloody vision, and comforted her raging heart. Now, those very eyes were cold and that voice was hardened. How hard could his life had been – she wondered? She had no right to judge of course, they all had heard about Olduvai…

Contrary to what everyone thought, Kelly 'Phoenix' Quinn _did_ feel. She felt pain, fear, anger, resentment, and bitterness – all of it. She even felt joy, laughter, friendship and love, desire …

But no one – no one could ever get through the titanium shield on her face. The shield that showed little or no emotion. That shield was her only defense – nothing could get in, nothing could get out. She had kept her shield through thick and thin – through training, through unfair probations, through wars, through loss, through medals and congratulations, even through loneliness and frustration. After some point her coldness had become a part of her – nothing affected her anymore – or so she thought.

He didn't even remember her. How could he have remembered her? He was just a soldier and she was just someone he saved as part of his job. Her face was covered in blood – and she didn't imagine she looked remotely human when he first saw her. Even, after the cleaning and bandaging, she couldn't hope that the memory her half covered teenage face would be a marker to identify her now. _If,_ he remembered her.

Of the countless men and women he saved, why would Reaper remember her?

But a stubborn part of her wanted him to remember her, wanted him to recognize her, wanted to believe that like he had become a part of her mind, she too occupied some part of his. She wanted him to remember because she remembered him – from the first time he caught hold of her, dragged her away from her own death and held her as she screamed violently; to the very last time when he shook her hand, as she lay in the hospital bed, before he left for the base.

His words, his kindness, his very decency.

She joined the marines because of him. She joined because he made her believe in herself and a life beyond all what she had lost. She joined the marines in the hope of finding him, again – just seeing him to thank him – at least once. He was the one thing in her life she allowed herself to worship – even if from a distance.

It was that part of herself that she feared. That part that would break through her shield and show. She was fine, she told herself. He didn't recognize her, he knew nothing about her. Her secrets were safe and her feelings need not resurface. After the mission was over he would be gone – and like the last time, his memory would be etched into her mind and it would probably give her the energy to continue on for another ten years.

She had no reason to fear him, or his penetrating eyes – even if she did, the Phoenix never showed her fear.

She had no need to give herself this talk.

When she opened her eyes, she found that his, still held her gaze. Taking a deep breath she let him keep her gaze, mentally drawing up her internal defenses not allowing him to see even one nanometer of emotion through her eyes.

Genghis always thought that it wasn't possible for Phoenix's face to become any more deadpan than it always was.

To his surprise, it actually became all the more expressionless.

A/N Whaddya think? Mary Sue?


	3. Chapter 3

-3-

"NEVADA!"

"Why the fuck didn't you tell us more, sir?"

"You're out of line, soldier."

"Sir, you said nothing about…" Gamgee exploded.

"I SAID YOU ARE FUCKING OUT OF LINE, Soldier."

"Sir, the only thing you tell us is that it is classified! How are we going to work with that?" Gryffin said, angrily.

"I had my orders. Do you know which unit you work for, soldier?"

"Sir, the Rangers, sir."

"And what is it we do?"

Silence.

"Yeah, that's right. We investigate – we do not just clean up messes, we clean up messes _before_ they are created. Do you know how delicate this situation is? We have a whole bunch of greedy hound dogs monitoring our every move, what we do, why we do? You think our directives are completely secure? After Olduvai – UAC has been under scrutiny for every cup of coffee we drink. Besides what difference would it make?"

"We do not work for Union Aerospace, sir." Gamgee said.

"No we don't," agreed Smith. "And the difference it would have made, was that I'd call my little girl and tell her I loved her…" Smith broke to a roar. "…JUST IN CASE I CAME BACK IN A FREAKIN' BAG!"

"A….you are over reacting. B…you don't dare talk to be like that again, soldier." Genghis sighed. "Mission is simple boys and girls, we do what we do best. Investigate, contain and report."

"Now," Genghis continued, "Dr. Grimm's job here is not for you to know. All you need to know is that she is to be kept safe. Reaper –" Krycek looked at John. "You don't mind us calling you by your old name, do you?"

John nodded.

Genghis continued, "Thank you. Reaper, here, is our field consultant. He will advise us as to our plan of action, once we have a full idea of the place we're at."

"Gamgee."

Gamgee responded with a straight-faced nod.

"We've never had to use Forensics before; you have some experience during your time in the army?"

"Allied deputation on Mars, while I was training sir, only for six months."

"Then I guess you just became our new expert. You and Phoenix here will be with the Grimms –"

"Sir, it shouldn't be just us. After Olduvai, it's clear that more teams are required." Gamgee spoke.

"SOLDIER, YOU WILL GIVE YOUR OPINION WHEN YOU ARE FUCKING ASKED FOR IT!"

John sighed as he looked at the horror on the faces of all soldiers. Sam fidgeted nervously. He had never expected such a small group to be sent for this mission. If anything, he had hoped for at least a platoon. Obviously UAC was fond of repeating their mistakes.

The assholes.

Reaper felt these soldiers did not deserve to die without knowing the truth Who knew where _this_ wormhole would lead? He knew he wasn't authorized to do it but he felt that it was better than telling them, 'aliens might have invaded the planet, because an unidentified signal was reported from Nevada. Find 'em and kill 'em'. He of all people knew how horrible unexpected surprises can be.

"Sgt. Krycek," he called the burly sour mouthed man aside. Keeping a low voice he said, "Maybe it's best that we debrief them."

"But my orders…"

"Your orders are only as good as if your soldiers are willing to cooperate. And it would help if they knew their odds. I have to agree with Gamgee – this isn't a job for a small unit."

"Did you not hear what I said, soldier? The directive –"

John snapped. "I was under the impression that my rank in this mission is equivalent to a lieutenant."

Genghis was silenced.

"Were you made aware of something, contrary to that, _soldier?_"

"I am in charge here, _Grimm_."

"You'll have no argument from me there, Sergeant; all I'm saying is that I am still superior to you."

"You motherfuckin' bastard – you don't even make sergeant in your time, you dickassed schmoozie! What gives you the right to give _me_ orders? I don't fuckin' care what role they assigned you, I'm the boss here."

"Reread your orders, Sergeant. I call the shots or we're going back. You order your men, as you please but you do _not_, order me, am I understood? Or we're just going to have to call _your_ super."

Genghis gritted his teeth. "You just wait till this mission is over, Reaper..."

Reaper bent his head forwards and hissed, "This mission, Genghis, will never be over. Not until we're all dead. Now shut the fuck up and do as I say."

Genghis ground his teeth and nodded.

"Do you wanna tell them, or should I?"

Genghis shrugged.

John cleared his throat. Every pair of eyes was on him – and he found himself at a loss for words.

"This is violating the directive, but I'm going to do it – for your sake. So you better listen up close."

Silence.

"The dig at Mars, revealed that there had been a civilization here, several of thousands of years ago. Later specimens found that there had been some genetic modifications made – adding a 24th pair of chromosomes to their genomic structure. At Olduvai – an experiment was carried out on a criminal – the results were disastrous. All you guys need to know was that he turned into a monster and went about infecting the people he killed, making them, into monsters."

John paused. Not a word was said.

Sam spoke up. "We don't know how the modification had been done to the previous civilizations – it certainly wasn't an inherent mutation. Most people had a theory that extraterrestrials may have been responsible."

"So now," said Poet, "these aliens are back?"

"The Magnus research on the west continent reported some sort of radio interference about two and a half years, ago. They couldn't put their fingers on it – all they knew was that there was a blip. They had attributed it to a power glitch. Until when one of their researches went down to one of the excavation sites and came back, not quite the same."

"He had been transformed." Sam said. "Into something horrid."

"Before, Magnus had been sealed off. That thing transported itself to Deimos. And we all heard about Deimos, didn't we?"

"We were there, sir." Bazooka spat out. "We lost many good men."

John nodded. "I'm sorry."

He paused and then continued. "Magnus, as you know was sealed off – all quarantine measures had been implemented over all research facilities. All Arks had been sealed off for the one year quarantine."

"We were part of those measures, too, sir," said Poet, "you don't need to tell us."

"SOLDIER, WERE YOU ASKED TO GODDAMN TALK?" Genghis barked.

"Sir, no sir."

"THEN YOU DON'T BLOODY OPEN YOUR MOUTH UNTIL I TELL YOU TO!"

Gryffin rolled his eyes.

Genghis marched up to him and said, "What the hell did you just do, son?"

"Sir, nothing, sir."

"You're damn well lyin' to me, you chicken shit! You fuckin' rolled your eyes at me."

"Sir, I did not, sir."

"Then what the fuck did I just see you do?"

"Sir, I was prayin' to the good Lord, sir."

Genghis was flummoxed. Sam stifled a giggle, and John couldn't help but snort. He had to admire Gryffin's presence of mind – and his gall.

"Now you listen to me you goddamn motherfucker…" Genghis bit out his words. "Don't you dare get cute with me Gryffin, or I'll cut your cunt-suckin' cute tongue out. AM I CLEAR?"

"Sir, yes sir."

"And don't you be prayin' to your Lord, while I'm givin' you orders. I'm your god while I'm givin' you orders, ye hear me?"

"Sir, I do, sir."

"And you pull that with me once more, I'll punch your face in so hard that you wouldn't know which side of your girlfriend to hump!"

"Sir, wouldn't dream of it, sir."

Genghis socked Gryffin's shoulder and returned to his position next to John. John was sure he saw Gryffin's mouth twitch when Genghis had his back to him.

John waited for a moment for the orders to set in. Keeping his smile in check he continued.

"So back to what I was saying, the unfortunate scenario is that the Ark in Nevada had been sealed off a long time ago. It had not been for the last one year. One month ago, the satellite read unidentified thermal signatures from the site, which did not reappear in the next scan. After which, the satellite somehow seemed to refuse reading the Nevada base area. It's almost as though something was blocking its view. Nevada had a continuous pulsator signal that pulsed every hour. That beacon stopped signaling over a fortnight ago. We are reading that to be a sign of some sort of infiltration."

"So you believe them to be aliens or them monsters?" Gamgee spoke.

"GAMGEE! What did I tell you about interrupting?"

Gamgee's face dropped. John felt like hooking Genghis in the jaw. What was the asshole's problem? The chopper turned around, causing John to brace.

"Is the satellite signal masked for the particular set of coordinates only or is it just the general area in and around the base?"

John was surprised more that the voice, rather than the intelligence of the question. He was equally surprised to see that Genghis had not barked. Perhaps because this was the first time, the person to whom that voice belonged had spoken in the last five minutes. It was cold but feminine voice with a lingering character, As though it came from a voice box that was not used to speaking.

He also noticed she had a clipped accent. She wasn't American.

…_Aye! Yer goin' on an' on about ye stupid plan. I dun' see it workin', yeah?... _

All eyes were on Phoenix, and her grey eyes were on him. He was so surprised that he found himself at a loss for words. Where was that memory from?

Sam spoke for him, before he could mumble. "Only the coordinates of the research facility. Its almost like seeing a cold blank area in the exact shape of the base. Why did you ask?"

"What about tectonic signatures? Ground heat?"

"None. Cold as ice."

"There is no military technology that can possibly create such a picture."

"We know." Samantha frowned. "Did ever you work in the war-tech research division?"

Phoenix shook her head. It was a hesitant shake and not a firm one. "It was just a question."

"And a bloody good one," Genghis said. There was pride in his voice. "How is that possible?"

John observed that there was no agitation or envy on the faces of the men. Genghis, being the man that he was, never seemed to allow them to ask questions let alone compliment his men – it would be but natural that such kindness to the girl would bring about some sort of discomfort…but there was none. Either his men were really good at hiding…or the group was closer knit than he assessed them to be.

Poet leaned over and whispered in his ear, "You have the same expression; the Hobbit did about two weeks ago. You'll get used to it. At the end of this you'll see there's a reason he doesn't clamp her mouth. She never talks unless she needs to. Unlike the rest of us, she uses all silence for using that smart red head of hers."

_She never talks unless she needs to…_

John frowned. A memory hit him like a light bulb flashing in his eyes.

…_Has anyone ever bothered told you that you talk too much?..._

…_I ne'er talk unless I need to…_

…_So now, you seem to be in need so often, eh?…_

John shook his head. He looked back at Phoenix and found that she had averted her eyes to something that Sam was saying.

She was reminding him about some part of his past.

The question was, had she ever been a part of it?


	4. Chapter 4

-4-

They reached within nine minutes. For a minute Reaper wondered why it took so long until he remembered that the Rangers HQ was in New Mexico and not California.

The upper level of Nevada's facility had been exactly as he had remembered it, with the exception of all the barricades around the facility and the abandoned outposts. It was twilight when they reached. There was a decent view of the level.

The sound of the chopper's blades cutting the otherwise still air was the only sound that hit their ears. The base was obviously still and deserted. John and the men surveyed the perimeter keeping his chain gun cocked for action. Genghis and Phoenix unloaded the equipment box.

"Ground perimeter seems clear, sir."

"Sam," John whispered, "Stay close."

The o'Riley brothers took charge of the box – Phoenix, who it seemed, had fostered some woman bonding with his sisters came around him keeping her protected from the other side. The girl handed Sam a gun.

John could have sworn that he almost heard the question that came out of her eyes when she gave it to Sam. 'Do you know how to use it?'

Sam nodded her head automatically.

Poet was right, they were already getting used to her unspoken words.

_Where had he seen those damn eyes before?_

John escorted Sam towards the key lock that activated the elevator. She knelt down and identified the box. Opening it, punched in the keys and slid in the small card they had been provided. Nothing happened. She tried it again – it didn't work.

Smith came over and tried to fiddle with the box. Nothing happened.

"They told me this would work." Sam said. Smith tried all override codes. Nothing worked.

John did not miss the looks exchanged between Phoenix and Genghis. He knew what they were thinking. The same thing he was thinking. The problem was from the inside. Either the elevator was screwed up or someone had tampered with the activation.

"Is there another way in? Like a backdoor or fire-escape or something?" Gryffin said, as though looking around for a magic trapdoor.

"Maybe it's because there's no power," said Smith.

"No, this code is designed to activate the internal auxiliary chamber."

Hobbit nervously whispered something to Phoenix. Her eyebrows twitched for a minute and she nodded. She made a motion of jabbing her two fingers into her eyes. It was a sign that he should keep his eyes open. He nodded and he headed towards the perimeter, towards the gate. It was flanked by two deserted outposts.

"What the fuck is he doing?" Genghis said, when he noticed.

Phoenix did not answer.

"I don't understand why the fuck that boy talks to you and not to any of us. He should be taking orders from me, not you." Genghis muttered to Phoenix. Quinn gave an apologetic shrug. Genghis shook his head, "Ah! I'm not blamin' you! I wonder if you remind him of his kindergarten teacher or something."

Phoenix gave bleak smile.

"I'd better follow that kid before he gets his nuts cut off before using them." Genghis muttered and started off after the Hobbit before Phoenix could stop him.

Smith mumbled under breath, loud enough for John and Sam to hear. "It's probably because she's the only one of us who won't bite his head off?"

"Why would you bite his head off?"

"'Coz he makes a lot of stupid suggestions."

Phoenix shook her head and moved out of earshot, taking after Krycek.

"Doesn't the sarge mind her taking authority?" Sam whispered to Smith.

"The sarge doesn't mind her giving Hobbit orders," said Sandman. "None of us do, actually. She's an easier and safer way to handle the kid. We'd probably kill him. Boy's good only for screwin' up."

"Cut him slack, Sandman," said Gamgee, "He's just been into it two weeks."

"It's been three missions already."

"They weren't major ones."

"I learned how to turn how to aim at what I want to shoot in training, Gamgee. That kid doesn't even know how to use the safety."

"Who named him the Hobbit?" Sam intervened.

"She did," said, Gamgee pointing to Quinn. "We kept calling him 'Shorty' coz he's no bigger than Phoenix. I guess Hobbit sounds more fun. She named me too. Appears they're some names from an ancient classic."

"Sam Gamgee…. Right." Sam said, her voice showing the realization. "But the Lord of the Rings isn't that ancient. It's was written around the late twentieth century."

"Beats me." Gamgee shrugged. "I never even heard of it."

John had his eyes fixed on Phoenix. The girl had just turned back from the outpost and was headed towards them. He never imagined that a woman-hater like Genghis would actually have a girl in his group and much less treat her with the amount of respect that he did.

As she came towards them she met his eyes for a millionth of a second and looked away, towards Sam. Why did she avoid his eyes? It was almost as though she was trying to hide from him.

Phoenix nodded at Sam. The words, yet again understood. 'Try it, again."

Sam punched the keys and slid in the card. A low rumbling noise made them step back. Although the surface elevator didn't emerge with the same speed, it did ascended.

Genghis and Hobbit jogged up towards them. Genghis had a funny scowl on his face. John noticed it and couldn't help wondering what it meant. As though reading his thoughts, Poet whispered. "That means he's impressed."

"Frankly," said John, "so am I. What did you do?"

Hobbit's face was so lit up with excitement it almost infected everyone else.

"I…" He broke off to pant. "I figured…that…the gateways might be activated by an external subunit. It's a common rerouting system for emergencies, especially if internal auxiliary units fail."

Sam beamed at the boy. "Good job."

John noticed that Phoenix had a look of approval on her face, too. He wondered if it was because of the scar on her forehead that limited her ability to show some more emotion than what she did. He had heard of some surgeries on the face which would cause you so much pain that you couldn't even wince without crying out.

"Weapons up, people. Let's not be taken by surprise."

Smith, Bazooka and Sandman positioned themselves behind the sidewalls. Before John could motion for Sam to do the same, Phoenix had already dragged her to the other wall. Keeping her body between Sam and any possible entrant.

Genghis motioned for John to do the same. John felt like arguing but he figured it was better to cower like a pansy and ensure that Sam would return home safely than risk it.

The elevator doors opened, with a creak and a hiss. John saw Genghis motioning to Bazooka and Sandman to head in first. They kept keeping one eye on their comm readings the men proceeded into the elevator. When Genghis was assured that it was safe, he nodded to the o'Riley's who went in afterwards. When John came forward he saw the four men inspecting all corners of the lift.

"Should we risk it?" said Gamgee who was staring at the control console of the elevator.

"If we all go in, and something unhappy's waiting for us, we won't be able to call for back up," Gryffin said. "I think that Sammy here and I, oughta check it out first"

"But if you're out numbered?" Samantha said.

Phoenix silently went towards their equipment box and punched in the keys to open it. John wondered if that woman even knew she was in a social environment, that she did things without a word.

The equipment trunk looked compact but in fact it was a whole magic box in itself. There were slots and tiers of weapons, readers, scanners and forensic test kits and toolkits, all underlying the survival kit tier. Phoenix brought two portable sized jacket-boxes out and shut it. As quietly as she did all that, she came forward and tossed the two boxes to the o'Riley's.

The o'Rileys each took out a pair of high penetration vision goggles. One set it to thermal vision mode the other set it to pulse-reader mode. They clipped the jacket boxes to their belts and nodded.

"Be careful." Sam said to the brothers as Bazooka and Sandman exited the lift.

John observed that there was an expression in Phoenix's eyes that made Gamgee nod at her in a reassuring manner as he jabbed the dials of the console. He interpreted it to be her concern.

The doors slid to a creaky close and the only the elevator descended.

"Comms clear?" Genghis spoke.

"_Comms clear, sir_," Gamgee's voice was heard, a second later Gryffin's voice was heard echoing.

They heard the mild static interference of the lift as it descended. They heard the sound of it stopping.

"_I'm blocking the automatic open_." Gryffin's voice was heard.

"_Scanners read the usual. Infrastructure, machinery composition. Magnesium, Titanium - no thermal signatures. At least not on the other side of those doors. No pulsators_." Gamgee's voice was heard.

"_Shall we proceed_?" said Gryffin.

Genghis held his breath for a second and said, "Proceed."

A sound, which John assumed was the opening of the doors, was heard. Everyone above had held their breath.

"_Heading into the main atrium_." Gamgee spoke.

"_Scanners read no life signs_."

"_Shall I try to power up the systems?_"

"We'd risk detection," said Genghis.

"Seeing the noise that elevator made," said Smith, "I figure they might know we are already here."

"_Main entrance secure. All doors secure."_

"All right, that's good enough for us. We're coming in." Genghis said, hitting the jack on the elevator shaft. The sound of the elevator ascending was heard.

The doors opened on to the main level. It didn't seem as though the brothers had the power up yet. John felt as though they were walking into the ruins of some sci-fi temple. Except that this was familiar. He remembered the corridors which would lead to the various parts of the facility – except the matter walls blocked all exits.

Phoenix moved past him with the cat-like grace of a soldier and scanned the area. Sandman and Bazooka stay inside with the equipment trunk.

"Gamgee?" Genghis whispered into his comm.

No sound.

"Gryffin?"

No response.

"Sir –" Poet whispered, pointing to one of the exits – there was a light blinking on the console next to it.

Genghis nodded.

John pulled Sam back into the elevator, allowing Smith and Bazooka to leave their positions and follow Genghis. The men positioned around the exit, guns poised.

"o'Riley!" Genghis whispered into his comm.

Still no response.

He nodded at his men. Smith moved forward to the console and checked. "Standard UAC override codes, sir; the o'Riley's might have used them."

"Gryffin, Gamgee!" Genghis spoke louder into his comm. "You two better answer me, now."

No response.

"Something's wrong." Bazooka drawled in a low baritone voice.

Genghis nodded towards Smith who punched in the codes again. All guns cocked as the door opened. No one seemed to be on the other side.

"Smith, Sandman." Genghis nodded at the men.

They moved forward, scanners open. John could not see them anymore. There was no light.

"_No life signs, sir_." He heard through the open comms. "_Not even the brothers_." Sam gripped his elbow.

What the fuck was going on? Where were the o'Rileys?

"Angus!" Genghis shouted loudly. "Sam!"

"_Proceed, sir_?" John heard Smith say.

"_Proceed_." Genghis' voice came in response. "_Phoenix, Poet, you two stay here._"

John could see the shapes of the two soldiers come back into the main area as the rest of the team proceeded in.

Phoenix shut the door. She surveyed the area again. Then she went over to the reception interfaces, using the aid of her torchlight. Her hand froze mid air.

A sharp shrill piercing screech reverberated through the walls. John's knees bent a little as he directed his gun in the direction of the sound. Phoenix sprang onto the reception table and did the same as Poet scuffed over to an area exactly opposite hers.

The shrill was followed by a horrid growl.

"It's from above!" Poet cried. Sam hastily opened the trunk and scrambled to get a scanner. When she found one, she kept her gun, in one hand and the scanner in the other, as three chain guns were directed to the ceiling.

"Two life signs!" she said. Then her face paled. "It's over…our heads."

"_Poet! Phoenix! What's going on there?"_

"Something's in the overhead shaft, sir!" Poet said, heavily.

"_Unlock the exit, we're on our way_."

A pounding could be heard over the ceiling – the guns followed trail – but the shrill was too ambiguous to localize.

Phoenix lost her patience and fire three rounds.

The screaming stopped.

Breathing heavily she scooted to the door and began to jab in the codes.

"LOOK OUT!" Sam screamed.

It happened in the blink of a second. The vent door burst open just above Quinn's head and a dark, burly figure fell through, pouncing on her.

"Stay here, and use the door if you have to!" John ordered Sam and rushed towards Phoenix. He couldn't aim at the thing since the reception table blocked him, he made his way around it.

Smith hurdled over the table and then suddenly stopped.

John heard the sound of an oomph coming from the creature as it was flung onto its back. Phoenix fluidly straddled the thing and used the butt of her weapon to slam its face.

"Owwwwww! Dammit!"

It was a human voice.

"That's right, Gamgee," she hissed as she gripped the dark figure's throat. "Oww."

She dropped her gun and balled her other hand into a fist and punched his jaw. Enough to hurt, and yet enough to keep him alive.

The door opened and the band of men burst forth and froze in their spots as they saw Phoenix sitting over a trapped Gamgee.

Suddenly there was a whirring noise and light filled the whole place. From the same vent that Gamgee fell through, Gryffin popped his head out and burst out laughing.

"Looks like I'm fifty bucks richer!"

"GRYIFFIN! You nutless sonnva' bitch!" Genghis roared. "What the fuck do you two think you're doin'?"

"Why nothin' sir!" Gryffin drawled. "Me and my li'l brother had a little bet, which I just won."

Phoenix rose and picked up her gun, she kicked Gamgee in the stomach before stepping off him.

"That's not funny!" Samantha cried.

John felt his anger boil over. "Sergeant Krycek!"

Genghis had his attention.

"Please instruct your men," he roared, spitting every word out, "that we are here on a potentially fatal mission and not some company picnic!"

"Sir," Gamgee wheezed. He coughed as he tried to scramble up. "We were just –"

John strode over to him and caught his collar. "Have you seen those creatures, Gamgee? Even been close to one?"

Gamgee nodded furiously. "Deimos."

"And you yet have the gall the joke about them? Do you know how many men have _died_ in this stupid station?"

Gamgee sputtered. John shoved him away. "The next time you pull something like this, I'll blow the shit out of your head with my gun!"

"Gryffin get the fuck down. I should kill you!" Genghis muttered.

Gryffin jumped down, landing on his feet, in time to catch Gamgee as he fell back.

"The two of you are going to lose your RnR time because of this, am I understood?" Genghis barked.

The brothers nodded.

John turned around to see Phoenix standing just next to him, breathing heavily. Her eyes could have burned a hole through the brothers from the way she looked at them.

"Are you okay?" he said, softly.

Those grey eyes snapped back to glare at him. 'Don't you dare coddle me' was the message he got.

"My mistake." He retreated.

"Would the two of you tell me, what the fuck is going on? Don't tell me, you were up in the shaft just to play boo!" Genghis roared at the brothers.

"We rerouted, with a bit of rewiring, the power from the auxiliary unit to the entrance. I thought it was a better way – only the level that we work on is operational…"

"Did I goddamn authorize you to –"

"Sir…" Poet broke through the conversation. Genghis looked at him. "I hate to admit it, but that is a better plan. Until we know how much power the generators have, we can't risk a sudden blackout."

Genghis scowled at Poet and then nodded.

"Okay, people, lets get started. Smith, try and get an uplink through that console. Gryffin get me schematics. Our plan as of now is simple; we try and get to the Hub. If the Hub is secure we make that our mission control. If not, our lives just became tougher. Once secure we dispatch. We retrieve all cam information, all logs – we make sure we get to know everything – even the tiniest movement of air that might have taken place in the last one month. Use extreme prejudice and don't play any games, AM I CLEAR?"

They all nodded.

As Smith worked his fingers furiously on the reception interface, Gryffin tried to access the main frame from the entrance.

"Dr. Grimm has the command codes. You're staying here, with them." Genghis ordered, to which Sam gave a short nod. "Reaper, you are with us."

John reluctantly nodded and followed the team.

They headed through the corridor towards until they came across a two way. One leading to the Ark the other one towards the Hub. The hub was the home of the mainframe.

"_Unable to contact HQ from here, sir. It's simply equipped for transfer protocols."_

"Acknowledged."

"_Complete schematics available sir, HQ seems secure."_

"No risks." Genghis ordered.

Phoenix punched in the override codes to gain entrance to the Hub. Bazooka and Sandman, went in first. When they had secured the room, the rest followed.

"_Rerouting auxiliary power to Hub."_

Light filled the room; the Hub was an impressive room. It seemed like the bridge of a spaceship.

Sandman immediately got on the job of activating the cameras.

"Surveillance online, sir. You boys want your own personal surveillance?"

"Smith, get up here and try HQ from here. Gryffin, upload schematics onto console 8, and _then_ get up here."

"_Auxiliary power is at 100 percent, sir_," Gryffin reported.

"Acknowledged."

"Main power is at 100 percent, also." Poet reported as he fiddled with the mainframe. Should we activate it?"

"Not yet. Where's the ark?"

Poet presses a button. A whirring sound was followed by the main window shades being slid to the side. Though the Hub overlooked the Ark, it was too dark for them to see anything.

"Ark needs the main power."

Genghis nodded.

Smith jogged into the room and took his position on console 3. He began computing in series of programs.

"Satellite is not responding, sir."

"Give it two more tries. If it doesn't work, use our comm box." Smith nodded.

Samantha came in, followed by Gryffin who took up console 8.

"Schematics online"

The main screen showed a level by level map of the entire base. Genghis ordered the Ark level on the map. John came around and observed it. Phoenix came up beside him.

"Sweep scan shows no life signs, sir. Programming in our signatures."

"Armory on level 2, east quarter." Genghis said to Bazooka. "The Lab is on the 3rd level, same side, it seems to have entry through an airlock."

"System sweep shows no usage in the last twelve hundred and seventy seven days."

"That was when the facility was sealed off." Sam said.

"Then how the hell could that beacon have stopped functioning?" Genghis said. "Gryffin, get me the exact location of that beacon. I want to see it for myself."

"Tower 12 sir. Above the surface."

"This schematic does not include the support systems of this base." Phoenix said suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at her with a general 'huh' expression.

She shrugged and continued to look at the images on the screen. "All it shows our pathways, sections and tiers. Nothing else."

"Well, honey, that's what the base is made off." Sandman said, condescendingly.

Phoenix turned to look at Sandman, but John knew that he blocked her view. He was about to step away so she could see Sandman but her eyes seemed to bore through John as though he was like a glass wall.

"When you go to the toilet, Sandman, where does the shit go?"

"What?"

"Answer the question."

"She's right," John said, realizing what she meant. "She's talking about sewers and vents – elevators shafts."

"These maps are horizontal sections." She said, turning her had to look at them. "We need to look at the longitudinal ones."

"The sewer and vent cams are not responding." Sandman said, nodding his head.

"Not just the sewers." John said, "We need to have a look at the water pipes, gas shafts. This was a research facility – anything could be anywhere."

"Looks like we gotta make a full sweep." Genghis said.

"Sir, activating main power might bring the sewer and vent cams online."

"Yeah, I guess its time we saw the Ark, too."

They all turned towards the direction of the Ark view. As Poet powered the whole system, they saw the Ark looking the way it did. John pushed back the memories of seeing people dead, women and children alike. The Ark was deserted. The core silent. It looked like it had been that way for years.

"Bazooka, Gamgee, you're with me."

John watched as they men disappeared from the connecting matter door, entering the Ark slowly and cautiously.

"Damn it," Sandman muttered.

"What?" John turned.

"Sewer and vent cams are not coming online."

"Maybe, you need to turn on another switch. You know like a control box or something." Hobbit said.

"Maybe this place is good for your knees, kiddo," Gryffin said, his face lighting up as he turned to the console and furiously began playing with the inputs.

"Why my knees?" Hobbit said.

"'Coz that's where your brains are. And it seems you've decided to use them ever since you came here."

Sam snorted in disgust but the Hobbit was beaming. John smiled – he missed his days in RRTS. This group was so alike his own…

"_Ark area is secure. Poet, it's all yours."_

"Acknowledged, sir."

Poet was the Quantum specialist. He had worked in the second stages of teleportation – according to his Military Research designation reports, he had been on the team that perfected it to 98 percent fluidity. In simple words – less teleportation sickness.

Poet began to whisper, rhythmically as he unloaded the stuff he would need for his work. "_Questioning the lights around, they answer me;_

_Certainty is ours for the grasping;_

_Dialogues in front of me I query thee;_

_Can you see the argument that's missing?_"

"What does it mean?" Sam asked, smiling broadly.

Sandman drawled, shaking his head. "Don't even bother asking him. Even, he doesn't know what he's saying."

Sam had a queer expression. "But isn't that why he's called the Poet?"

Smith snorted. "Nope! That started after Phoenix here gave him that name. I think he feels it's his moral obligation to live up to it.

Poet grinned and finished. "_Stand for a time, in one place, of one mind; _

_Share the patterns of our destiny._"

"So, why'd she name you 'Poet'?"

"'Coz my name is Homer."

"Yeah, his name used to be Simpson before Phoenix here rechristened him!" Gryffin chuckled. "You know, that really old cartoon, bald yellow guy with a belly. Looks a lot like our Poet here actually!"

"But Poet?" John said, equally curious.

"Homer was Greek Poet. I think he wrote that Trojan War story?"

Sam nodded. "The Illiad."

"Yeah well I'm Greek too…and…'" Poet smiled and broke off. He shook his head and gave them a mock salute before he headed for the Ark.

Sam looked at Phoenix whose eyes were glued to the schematics as though she was plotting something. It seemed to them, probably being the outsiders in this unit, that she wasn't even part of the conversation. John suspected that somehow her silence was her way of communicating.

"You read a lot, huh?"

Phoenix turned around and nodded, before she went to the console that Gryffin was working with.

"I still think we should have stuck to Simpson." Gryffin mumbled.

John went over to where Phoenix stood leaning over Gryffin's back rest.

"And what?" he said.

Both heads turned towards him. Gryffin mouthed their expression. "Huh?"

"He said he was Greek too, _and_…something. He left before he could complete. 'And' what?"

Gryffin looked at Phoenix and then back at the console.

"Homer, the poet, was blind." Phoenix said, quietly, keeping her head directed towards the screen.

"So?"

"Didn't you notice Poet's eyes?" Phoenix said, turning her head and giving him her grey gaze.

He hadn't. So he shook his head.

"Well, I guess that doctor really was good then." Gryffin mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Sam said.

"Observe his pupils," Gryffin said. "They neither dilate nor contract. He has optimers...you know? Bio-prosthetic retinas?"

"He's blind?"

"He used to be. Now, he sees better than we do – no need for head gear."

"How?"

"Accident while working with the core reactor. Got exposed. That's why he was transferred to active forces. The exposed core radiation is twice as harmful to optimers as to human eyes. They didn't want to risk it, the second time."

Before John or Sam could say anymore, Genghis, Bazooka and Gamgee came back into the Hub.

"Okay – we're set here? Right? Gryffin, Smith, Sandman and…Poet?"

Poet's voice was heard. "_Affirmative._" The other three nodded.

"Okay. Smith, use our comm box. Give HQ an update. We're going to proceed to the Labs. Sandman – you're the all-seeing eye. So you better keep it open."

"Personal cameras coming online in three seconds." Sandman nodded.

"Trackers online in two."

Their individual blips appeared in the schematics console, soon followed by their individual cam views.

"Head for the airlock." Gryffin instructed. "It leads to three sections. UAC's Bio-research lab – that's where you'll find the sick bay, the Ordnance research lab and Archaeology. Each section has its own airlock."

Genghis nodded and they headed for the main airlock.


	5. Chapter 5

-5-

"All right," said John. "What's our status?"

"_South west wing, secure – I guess these would be all the residential quarters, bunkers and recreational activities. No signs of life." _Genghis said.

"_North wing secure." _ Bazooka answered.

"Acknowledged. Nothing out west."

"_The base looks pretty clean at the moment."_ Came Gryffin's voice.

"_Sandman, you get those shaft cams, online yet?" _Genghis said.

"_No sir – nothing I'm doing from here seems to work. Hobbit could be right – we may need to try their control boxes."_

"_Reaper, you think those sewers can wait till tomorrow?"_

"_If there's any life down there it could resurface."_

"_Affirmative. Can't risk it. Okay – Gamgee, Dr. Grimm."_

"_Yes?" "Sarge?" _Gamgee and Sam spoke simultaneously.

"_Are y'all in Archaeology?"_

"_Affirmative, sarge." "Yes, sergeant."_

"_Get started. Gamgee, you keep your eyes and ears open, you hear?"_

"_Affirmative, sarge."_

"_Dr. Grimm?"_

"_Yes, sergeant."_

"_Anything, out of the ordinary…"_

John felt like telling her the same thing. He felt inhibited about leaving her – but Genghis had assured him that he'd be more useful as a marine rather than his sister's bodyguard. Gamgee would take care of her.

"_Don't worry, sergeant. We'll be careful."_

"_Reaper, where do you want to start, sewers, vents or shafts?" _

"Sewers." He replied instantly.

"_Gryffin, any ideas?"_

"_Basement of each quarter has a backdoor into the sewers."_

"_Poet? You wanna stay up there?"_

"_Primary survey of the Ark shows no suspicious activity, sir. I think it's better if I come with you, before starting analytical."_

"_Okay, south-west wing, more, the merrier."_

"_Okay, here's what we do. Hobbit and Bazooka, start from north. Hobbit, look for the damn control boxes. Phoenix, Reaper, still in the west quarter?"_

"Headed towards the basement, sergeant." John said.

"_Then I guess you take it from the west. Poet and I have got south-west. If this is like any other building, it's bound to have a central connector – that's where we regroup. Understood?"_

"_Acknowledged."_

Phoenix pushed the lever of the door twice. It didn't budge. John tried the command codes – it seemed activated but the door didn't move.

Without any warning she stepped back and swung her leg on the door. It creaked for a second. She did it again. It jerked open with a noisy groan.

John was never much of a conversationalist – but being around Phoenix was like sitting with the TV on mute. They seemed to be on either side of the screen. He didn't feel any curiosity towards her – but he had to admit the silence was driving him crazy. Throughout their scan of the west quarter, the only sign of acknowledgement she had given him was a flat nod indicating that it was clear.

He felt like saying, 'Nice style', when she kicked the door open, but decided against it. She'd probably ignore him, anyway.

Phoenix darted sleekly into the access strip, checking it around. She motioned to him and he followed in, shutting the door, behind him.

"_These scanners,"_ He heard Sam say as he watched Phoenix wind the lever of the rusty metallic door. _"How effective are they for detecting signatures?"_

"_98 percent." He heard Poet's voice._

"What about that 2 percent?" He said.

"_The problem with organic life forms is that the electromagnetic energy released by the cells is variable. We can't account for that."_

John sighed and nodded back at Phoenix when she gestured if she should go in first. Keeping her gun, firmly fixed on her shoulder she crouched into the exit. John followed her.

It was pitch black – and the stench of the sewers hit his nostrils so hard he nearly threw up his lunch. He could barely see Phoenix's form descending down the steps – her boots made a soft noise as she stepped down the rickety stairs. Then, he heard the soft splash of her body entering water. He joined her soon; when he saw that the water was up to his calves and whispered. "The water's been stagnating for longer than a year. Is your suit intact?"

She nodded.

"If you feel even as much as a drop, touching your skin, Phoenix, you get out of here, am I understood."

In the light of his torch, her saw her grey eyes glint when she turned to look at him curiously.

"That's an order." He said, raising his eyebrows.

She neither moved nor showed any expression.

He gave in. "A –" he whispered in explanation. "You don't wanna risk any infection, chemical exposure – this was a research facility. No idea what might be crawling down here."

He paused. She nodded.

"B – If there's a rip somewhere on your clothes – that means you have some wound. Even if it is just the tiniest scratch – and there are things that can smell your body fluids – even if you don't see them oozing out."

She nodded and continued on forward, gun in position.

John shook his head and followed her; he kept one hand ready on the handle of his gun, and held the scanner in the other, scanning the area in coordination with her. He realized as they went forward – that the maximum sound of water was made by him. She moved fluidly through it – making only as much sound as a water current.

She really was good at this. As they came at a two-way, she turned to him again. In the torchlight he saw the question on her face.

He nodded, before answering, "The sewage looks clear. Usual chemicals, no bio-hazardous stuff. I think this water was because of an accumulated leak. Or maybe the outlet is clogged."

She nodded and then pointed to the left way. He agreed with her and they took that line.

Every ten minutes, Genghis would demand a report on the comm, and every time they would hear uneventful reports. John felt an eerie feeling as they proceeded down this path. He wondered if it was just because they were in a closed dark space or was it something else.

After an hour they found themselves on a dry area. John scanned the floor and turned around. The water was draining into a large defect in the wall.

"Where do you think that goes?"

He was startled again. Mentally making a note that she did have a tongue and she would speak – albeit less often, he turned to her and said, "There's an underground stream that leads to the reservoir. It could go there."

She nodded and then nudged her gun in the forward direction.

He nodded and they proceeded.

"_I can't find any cams out here." _He heard Hobbit said.

"_None, I can see here."_ Came Poet's voice.

John had noticed the same too, but he was still on the look out. It seemed that there was no surveillance in the sewers. It wasn't unusual – UAC began to increase their surveillance range only after Olduvai.

"But why aren't there any schematics?" He heard Phoenix say.

"_Hunted the entire database,"_ Gryffin's voice came over the comm. _"Not even a deleted filename."_

"That's odd." She said, more to herself than anyone else.

John frowned for two seconds. What was it about her accent?

"You're not American, are you?" He said.

She gave him an inexpressive look.

"What are you? Australian?"

She didn't reply, instead moved on. He wondered if he had just imagined that he had asked a question.

"Come on, Phoenix! It's not like a national security threat if you tell me that much."

"_She's Irish. At least, she used to be,"_ Gryffin's voice was heard. _"And word of advice, when she doesn't reply to you, it mean's she never gonna answer."_

"Thanks, Gryffin." John muttered sarcastically. He decided that he was not going to attempt any more small talk.

Phoenix groped along a wall and found something. She pulled it. A small light came on.

John felt something. The hair behind his neck stood up on end. There was something behind them. His instincts were hardly, if ever, wrong - and after Olduvai they were as good as perfect. He extended his hand out to still Phoenix as she fidgeted with the scanner. She understood and became immobile.

There was a sound – something moving in the water.

John looked to his feet – they were still in a dry area. His pulse began to race. Phoenix deftly moved around him, aiming her gun at the direction he was looking at.

Thump!

It was behind them. Swiftly, both guns swung around to the opposite side. John tapped Phoenix on her shoulder. He motioned to her in the forward direction and then gestured that he would take the side behind.

She nodded and went, her body crouching like a cat about to pounce. John turned to the side behind – proceeding towards the drain. The sound of their drenched boots squeaking distracted him. His breathing slowed.

He pirouetted back when a noise which sounded like a squeal was heard in direction in which Phoenix had gone.

"Phoenix!" he whispered urgently into his comm.

"_I heard it."_ Came the reply.

John froze. Something snarled behind him, he flipped back with his gun aimed at whatever it was. He could see nothing. Taking a deep breath he turned off the flashlight.

There was a sound of splashing – like someone taking big steps into the water. He cocked his gun.

"Here kitty, kitty," he whispered.

A bone chilling shrill screech came from behind him. He flattened himself against the concave wall and pulled out his pistol.

"Phoenix!" He whispered.

No response. He didn't dare calling her name again. There was a sweeping sound. He ducked as something dark and wide flew at him from above – without waiting to see what it was he fired one whole round.

"KEEAAAAAAAAAAYYYYAAAAAAHH!" The screech became louder as whatever it was turned around and flew back at him. John fired again. This time he kept the trigger pressed.

Something bigger than the flying thing came splashing out of the water. He backed away and aimed his chain gun at the large thing.

He heard a large roar as it pounced.

Bang! Bang! Bang! He deflected it. It retreated a couple of seconds and rebounded at him.

"_Reaper, Goddamn it! What's going on? Phoenix!"_

The comms crackled – John didn't bother to reply. The flying thing darted over his head, flapping its wings. The growl suddenly decreased in intensity. John fell back, firing rounds at the bird or whatever it was as it swept on to him. None of the bullets seem to hit it. A sharp pain hit his cheek. Fuck! It had scratched him!

There was a low whistle followed by a loud bang and the bird screeched louder than normal and recoiled from him. He felt some liquid substance dropping on his face as the flapping sound violently pulled away from him. It was shot by a gun that didn't belong to him.

The bird and the beast flew backwards away. He heard running footsteps and scrambled to get up.

Phoenix caught his arm as he steadied himself. She aimed her torch into his face and said, "What the fuck was that?"

"I don't know – but it was no bat!" He wiped the liquid from his eyes. She caught his face and checked his wound.

"You have a scratch," she said, examining his cheek.

"Damn thing nearly gouged my eyes out!"

"_Reaper! Phoenix – what the…_" Genghis's sound was interrupted by a scream that sounded like Hobbit. There was a crackle that sounded like gun fire. John and Phoenix exchanged one look and then ran towards their location.

"Gryffin, where are they?" John screamed into the comm..

"_Turn to your left, you'll reach the pipeline to where they are." _Gryffin said.

They ran fluidly through the pipes, guided more by instinct rather than the slim torchlight.

John nearly collided into Phoenix when she skidded to a halt. A blue light illuminated the central connector. John moved to her side and found Genghis standing over a dark lump on the ground. He scanned around with his light and found Hobbit leaning against the wall breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" he said.

Hobbit nodded and wheezed, pointing towards the sergeant.

"Big fucking bird," Genghis muttered when Phoenix touched his arm.

John came forward and shone the light on the creature.

A vulture lay dead on the ground.

----

"That's not a vulture," Samantha said as she grabbed John's face to still it. "It's a condor."

"What the hell is a condor doing in Nevada? I thought they were South American birds!" Gamgee said, as he brought the scalpel to take the bird apart.

John winced as she dotted some antiseptic on the wound. He looked beyond his sister to find Phoenix sitting with her pants pulled up to her knee. She was cleaning a small bruise.

"How'd you get that?" John said, hissing as Sam inserted a needle into his vein.

"That thing caught me off guard." She said in a matter of fact tone.

"Check her." John said, grimacing as Sam pulled the needle out.

"I will –" she said, "in a minute"

"I'm fine." Phoenix said, not looking up.

"You might be infected with something – we don't know why that condor was here." Sam said, as she picked up another needle for Phoenix.

Phoenix twitched her mouth in a way that suggested she wanted to make a face, but she did not protest.

"I'm telling you, there was something else down there." John said, rubbing the exhaustion out of his eyes.

"Oh right! The big bad monster!" Genghis mocked. Then he became serious. "Look, Reaper. The scans showed only one life form and we killed it. Phoenix was right next to you and she didn't see it."

John rolled his eyes.

"She wouldn't be the best judge," He said. "I mean, she herself said, she was taken aback by that thing. And we heard noises in two directions."

He looked at Phoenix who shrugged.

"Okay – so what? We go and find the great sea monster – excuse me – drain monster?"

Phoenix made a face. John completely agreed with her sentiment. Genghis really could be a pain in the ass.

"I'm just saying, keep your eyes and ears open."

"The sewers have been locked out, Reaper. There's no way anything in out there is getting in. Hobbit even set up thermal scans – we'll know if something comes up."

John felt that prickly thing at the back of his neck. He rubbed it and shook his head. "Why the fuck are you being so defensive, anyway Genghis?" John said.

"We've been here twelve hours – the only thing that seems to be going on in this fucked up base is the goddamn air-conditioning!"

John had noticed the increasing stuffiness which according to Gryffin was because the coolants had expired.

"I just think that beacon might have died out."

"What about the satellites?"

"Smith said they can't get through to HQ. Might be some general interference."

"But _what_?"

"How the fuck should I know? It's known to happen. There's a storm coming up."

John looked at him in annoyance. "What are you saying? Past one month – that interesting shaped satellite picture was because of a goddamn storm that's been brewing that long? Would you just listen to yourself, Genghis?"

"Look, all I know is that I have a mission and frankly – it's not been much of a revealer except for some damned South American hawk."

John was about to say something when Smith's voice was heard over the comm. "_Sarge, we have communication with HQ. You better get up here, it doesn't look like its going to last very long._"

Genghis didn't bother waiting. He picked up his guns and stalked out. John sighed. He had to admit – if all their sophisticated equipments were to be trusted, this base really had nothing out of the ordinary.

Except maybe a possible demon in the sewers.

-----

A/n:

Enyo: thank you so much. You helped me clear my writers block

Others: please review, I really thrive on them

Also: please forgive me any typing errors, I promise you they were honest mistakes


	6. Chapter 6

(A/N: Okay this is a massive update. I'm actually in a hurry to finish this fic, because I got a project coming up0

----

-6-

Poet plugged in the data cable of the Ark to his portable database and started to fiddle with the commands. A series of logs started scrolling through his eyes. Any other human being – even if they had been more experienced than Poet, would have found that there was no anomaly. The last recorded transference of the ark had been over a year ago. No logs were recorded after that.

Poet saw something else – interlaced with the last recorded logs were electronic frequency shadows. Shadows that would never be visible to a normal eyes – shadows that perhaps only an animal with an acuity of vision as an eagle could make out.

And Poet did not have ordinary eyes.

The synthetic retinas transplanted into his eyes saw things that others could never even imagine. It saw digital prints, binary blips; it could see the high frequency sonar like images that bats received. In the dark, Poet could see auras and even thermal signatures.

Most uniquely, he could even see feelings.

Like a dog could smell neurotransmitters that were responsible for emotions, Poet could see the change in the field around a person when they experienced different feelings. It was like a halo around them.

He saw Hobbit's fear, he saw Gamgee's desire for the beautiful Dr. Grimm, and he even saw what he called Genghis' 'Goddman-Jerk Aura'. He saw the inhibition that everyone felt towards this whole mission – but what surprised him most of all was the aura that Phoenix emitted.

He liked Phoenix. Unlike the others who assumed her to be cold, Poet saw the myriad of emotions that she kept tightly contained within her expressionless exterior. He had been privy to all sorts of colours around Phoenix. Joy, friendship, loyalty, anger, sadness. The most predominant one was a shade of grey. It was the one that drew Poet's protectiveness of her. It was the colour of loneliness.

He liked her most of all because if ever he saw her emotions he would immediately see it being replaced by a colour that he had now learned to be determination. It was as though she had a storm trapped inside a bottle and if ever the cap would unscrew due to the pressure – he could actually see her clamping it back on. It was amusing and Poet always wondered how long it would last.

For the past twelve hours, they were at the base; he saw a new set of colours around Phoenix. Her colours were vividly bordering on discomfort and they elevated especially around Reaper. Those colours were deeply mixed with the colours of fear. There was something else he observed – her control of those powerful emotions was slowly diminishing.

It was one of the reasons, he didn't trust Reaper. Reaper didn't show colours which a normal human showed. If the rumours were to be believed then, Poet figured that his emissions were probably because of the mutation in his genome. Nevertheless – it was hard to interpret what he was feeling. The only feeling Poet was confirmed about was Reaper's loyalty and love for his sister. It was the only thing that kept him from prying into Reapers command codes and seeing his mission statement.

Poet frowned for a minute and wondered if he was seeing double for a second. The shadow had just disappeared as the logs completed scrolling. He reran the logs – it didn't happen again.

He scratched his head and wondered for a minute if he should even bother wasting his time pursuing the matter.

He opened his kit and sighed, looking at the device that would possibly solve his problem or complicate the matter further.

"I thought you hated that thing."

Poet gave a side glance to Sandman and punched in some more equations, into the Ark mainframe. Dr. Grimm was with him. She saw the black palm sized box and frowned in query.

Poet debated for a few seconds and decided against explaining it to her. He didn't trust Reaper and that translated into his distrust towards her, too.

"Any luck with the Ark?" she said.

"So far so clear," he mumbled.

"Ah!" Sandman muttered, conspiringly. "Poet don't like anyone pryin' while he's workin'. With him all information is at the end of his…whaddya call it?...'Thorough investigation'.

Dr. Grimm smiled and said, "I guess I know better than to interrupt you, then."

Sandman and Poet headed towards the hub. Poet looked at her retreating back and then spoke against his better judgement. "What about you, Dr. Grimm? Did you find what you're sent here to look for?"

Grimm's halo turned from a friendly, sociable pink to a gawdy magenta. It was as though the alarms in her brain had set off. Poet saw her turn and give a smile, which to anyone would have seemed casual – but in truth it wreaked nervousness.

"Not yet." She said, and turned about and continued on her way.

Poet looked back at the device. "Fuck it!" He said, picking it up. "It's not like I have a hot date!"

---------

"So you're a cybernetics geek huh?" John said watching Hobbit fiddle with the holographic interface that once was the pride and joy of the Nevada base. It was the public friendly UAC open database – _and_ it brought in all the big money.

Hobbit grinned and much to John's dismay began talking a whole lot of computer jargon which John didn't want to hear – but was forced to, given his indiscretion in opening that can of worms.

Hobbit was on the first watch with Smith who was dozing on his console. John wasn't getting much sleep, so he decided to stick it out with them, keeping an eye on the cameras as Smith got his beauty sleep. It was nearly the end of their watch but Hobbit was wide awake with the virtual console.

John kept his eye fixed on Samantha's cam who was still working in the lab. The condor was Andean – the largest birds of prey, according to her. It had not been genetically modified – she had told him, but it was still a suspicious occurrence that it was flying around the sewers.

A sound behind him alerted his attention; Phoenix had just walked into the Hub, rubbing her eyes. He nodded at her which she acknowledged with the blinking of her eyes. Deciding against commenting on her social manners, he kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.

Smith mumbled something as she shook him. He sat up with a start when she patted his shoulder the second time. Bleary eyed, he nodded at her and hauled himself of his chair and headed towards the bunkers which had been deemed safe, mumbling his good night.

Phoenix silently took her place at the console which was still trying to connect to the satellite.

"Isn't Poet coming?" Hobbit said, as he continued to work.

She nodded as if to say – 'he'll be here, soon.'

"Well, I'm not sleepy so if you don't mind I'll take this one with you?" Hobbit asked, hopefully.

Phoenix shrugged. "Go tell Poet yourself, then." She said, quietly. He nodded and decided to do it personally.

John felt the awkwardness of being in the room alone with Phoenix without having said a word to her for five minutes. He glanced back at her and saw that she was working on trying to pull up satellite images and then trying to compare it with the ones that the mission documents contained. The one where the base practically didn't exist.

"So…" John said. "How long have you been with the Rangers?"

She didn't reply.

"I asked you a question."

No answer.

John turned around and looked at her, properly. He observed that the tight bun she tied at the nape of her neck was now a very long braid.

Really long. It nearly reached her waist.

He frowned. "Don't you have a hair-length norm in the army, soldier?"

Again there was silence.

"I'm talking to you, Quinn."

"I heard you." She said, quietly.

"Then answer me." He ordered.

"The hair-length applies to regular personnel. Special Ops only requirement is that it shouldn't come in the way. It doesn't. Does that answer you, _sir_?"

She actually spat out the 'sir'.

John ignored her tone and persisted. "And what about my first question?"

"Three years."

John felt like an idiot when he turned around to continue doing what he was doing. He wasn't her to be sociable to anyone, much less to a mute-by-choice hard ass.

He scowled and silently decided he was done being friendly.

Quinn breathed slowly. It was a smart decision – those few words were enough to keep him quiet and encourage him not to talk any further. She didn't want him communicating with her on even the remotest level.

When would this goddamn mission get over? It was obvious there was no activity going on around here. Except for that damned bird in the sewer there was no other unusual occurrence.

Quinn sighed to herself. She felt it – the eerie feeling this base carried. She couldn't stop feeling that something was wrong here; though she decided against voicing her instincts she would not ignore it.

The day was horrible for her. Hearing the authoritative tone of his voice again, seeing the familiar caution with which he moved – and then that damn bird. For a minute she thought that bird had nearly got Reaper given the commotion. It had opened a sense of fear in her that she was not used to. Fear for him.

Stop giving a damn! She told herself. He didn't remember her and she could not afford to remind him. It would be like facing that part of her past again. A life she had chosen to forget.

What the hell was keeping Hobbit? She didn't like being alone having to hear his breathing; she didn't like her stubborn body urging her to touch him. Just once – even if by accident. Just to know he's real.

He had promised her they would always be friends. Then he left. Why should he care? Why should he even bother keeping relations? He was doing his job. He saved her life and he had to get on with his. Sure, he told her things about himself. His time on Mars. His father's death. About his sister – whom she found to be very much as he had described her; give or take a few changes. Sure, he had talked about why he joined the marines, how he found the first time having killed a human being was the most sickening thing in his life…but after a couple more, it didn't matter, as long as you were saving other lives.

He was just doing his job. He was being kind to her. He was helping her through her most difficult hours. He was trying to keep them both alive. He might have told this story to a million others, or he might have not. It didn't matter. If it did he would have tried to reach her – but he didn't, because Private Reaper was just doing what he was assigned to do. Protect her. Keep her safe. Keep her alive. It wasn't his job to inspire her. It wasn't his job to make her feel as though it was worth living for something. It wasn't even his job to follow up on his promises.

All those words had been just part of the bonus.

She was having this conversation with herself for the millionth time in the last twenty-four hours.

The man she saw now had changed considerably. He was hardened by his years in the corps and his experience with UAC. If she after ten years could erect this tight shell about herself, then he surely would be no different. Post-Traumatic Stress. She knew it like the gun she carried. She knew how it changed people and her most of all.

It had been him, who had told her that being part of the marines was no dream come true. Heroism was just a piece of shit and war was no glorified manner of living. The only thing that kept you a part of the bloody affair was knowing that someone's alive because you're out there bleeding.

She had kept that in mind – and through all the horrors she had seen those words had gotten her through it.

If for nothing else, she had to be grateful to him for that much.

Phoenix shook the thoughts out of her head. Being around him always set the cogwheels of her mind going haywire.

Hobbit alerted her on the comm, telling her that he was going to cybernetics lab to work on the virtual interface. He also told her that Poet was awake and he was going to continue working on the Ark. She wanted to tell him to get his bony ass up here, but knew there was no sense. John was watching the cams. Practicality won over her emotions, as always.

Phoenix finally lost her patience. The only way she could keep her mind of wondering about John Grimm and his life was if she involved her brain in something more productive. The satellite was not going to help her find out what was blocking its view.

She was going to find out herself.

Furiously typing in overrides she manually accessed and hacked into the mainframe of the satellite control. She was going to find out what was bloody wrong with this place.

----

"That's illegal."

She had sensed him standing over her shoulder long before he spoke but had ignored him. She wasn't startled when he finally spoke.

His tone of voice was bordering on amusement though.

Phoenix downloaded the data she needed to communicate with the satellite's remote control and then slipped out of the system.

Reaper pulled up a chair and sat next to her. Phoenix typed even faster, trying to expel the nervousness she felt from his proximity.

It worked temporarily.

Having gained access to the satellite's controls she programmed it to read multiple varieties of signatures over Nevada. Thermal, tectonic, anything. It didn't work. She had a sudden brainstorm. She typed in a few commands and waited for the satellite to transmit.

"So you're the real geek?" He said, chuckling softly.

"You should watch the cams." She said.

"I should." He said; he seemed to be thinking. Phoenix didn't dare to look at him. "Hobbit," Reaper called over the comm. "Get up here, I need you to watch the cams."

A light began to beep. She bit her lip as the satellite sent her a response.

"Damn it." She muttered to herself.

"What happened?" He said.

"We're a little far behind the Japanese on this one. I have to do a bit more snooping."

"What do you mean?"

"Watch."

Phoenix accessed the Nevada public telenetwork and began furiously punching in commands. After five minutes, she heard Reaper gasp. She smiled inwardly. Sometimes, she surprised herself too.

"You're accessing the Japanese sat? Through public access?"

"It's not easy – they're smarter than we are with firewalls. I have only 180 seconds before they realize they have an intruder in their system. The advantage of the public telnet is that I can keep them from locating me."

Hobbit came in and took his place. Phoenix ignored his protests at having to leave the virtual database. John ordered him to keep his eyes glued to the cams and not let even a shadow pass unexplained.

She gave a victorious sigh when she had access to the satellite's controls. Giving in another set of sequences, she took in a deep breath waiting.

"What are you looking for?" Reaper said.

The light changed colour to green. Phoenix couldn't hold a smile back. She quickly relayed a set of commands and then slipped out of the Japanese network, leaving behind a confusing trail that led to some other member of the Nevada telnet, all the while as the satellite downloaded images of the base.

"We have less than three minutes till this information goes blank," she said, relaying to commands to her adjacent console. "Save it, in that time. Don't bother looking at it. We can see it later. You do know how to…"

Reaper nodded before she could complete her question and moved his chair to the second screen.

Those three minutes seemed to be unnaturally long as she furiously worked herself out of the telnet. At the exact moment she had completely erased her trail she heard Reaper's sigh of relief.

"I think that's done." Reaper said.

She shifted her chair towards his console, her excitement overcoming her inhibitions over her proximity towards him. Reaper moved his chair to accommodate her but they were still close.

"What the hell…?" John muttered as the images began to load. "What are these?"

This time when she didn't respond, it was more out of surprise than reluctance.

"Poet," she spoke into her comm. "Get your ass up here, would you?"

---------

"Electromagnetic readings?" Poet said, raising his eyebrows. "Boy! Phoenix – but I'm quite sure you screwed up their satellites for good. When d'you get this smart, anyway?"

"I didn't know you could take such readings," Hobbit said, frowning.

"You can't, technically, for a good reason. When you ask the satellite to scan electromagnetic pulses you tune its receiver to read frequencies at which itself operates. It'll pick up every goddamn electronic equipment from old fashioned radios to rockets. It causes too much interference. The satellite orbits away from the location it gets confused and all signals get jammed. It pretty much makes it difficult to control after that. That's why they don't equip our satellites to do the same."

"But the Japs are smarter," Hobbit said, his eyes widening in realization. "They built in a safeguard. Whenever the satellite orbits into the coordinates, for the for the time frame it scans the area and the frequency you want – say our base here, it'll give you a fantastic picture, once it goes out of the coordinates, it automatically goes into its default mode."

"How'd you know about it?"

"UAC synthesized the chips for artillery some years back. It failed because it's very sensitive to nuclear weapons. The Japs bought it and improved it. It wasn't a confirmed rumor but now I guess we know for sure."

"So why'd you say that their satellite was screwed?"

"Because a time frame of longer than one minute causes an overload on the chips. I told you – they're too sensitive to nuclear radiations. Even the heavy metals from the earth's core."

"So, what are we seeing here?" Genghis asked, looking at the image.

"The cause of the damn blackout," said Poet. "There's some sort of negative force field around the base perimeter. It blocks the transmission to and from the satellite. That's why we were having trouble communicating with HQ."

"I don't get it." Sandman said, "What sort of weapon or program or whatever can cause this field? I mean something's gotta cause it, right?"

"That's what we have to find out." John said, extremely impressed by Phoenix. "Whatever it is, it's affecting the thermal signatures and it's probably screwing up our handheld scanners too, and we may not be able to see something we are supposed to."

"So what you're telling me as that we're at a level 5 security risk?" Genghis said, rising up from his seat.

"Maybe worse."

Genghis paced for a few minutes and said, "So how do we go about this without getting killed. Mission aside, frankly I wanna know what the fuck is going on – and _who _is responsible for it?"

----

(A/N: a lot of the technical stuff in this fic is fictitious)


	7. Chapter 7

-7-

John sighed exhaustedly as he watched Sam access the lab databases. Genghis and his team were making a secondary sweep of the facility.

"Any luck?"

"I don't think there's anything on this, I'm still trying the overrides they gave me. You never know what's hidden beneath the surface."

"Don't try too hard."

Sam stopped punching in numbers, and wheeled around in her chair to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like you said, you never know what's hidden beneath the surface."

Sam looked at him for a long time and nodded. She resumed her work.

He was leaning on the table behind her and for a long time he was lost in his own thoughts.

"We're lucky she thought of that, you know." Sam said, quietly.

"Yeah." John mumbled.

"I mean, something could have sneaked on upon us."

"Yeah."

"You're not going on the sweep, with the others?"

"Yeah."

There was a silence. John didn't realize that he hadn't heard a word of what Sam said.

"John," Sam said, after some time. "Is it that thing you thought you saw in the sewers?"

John didn't say anything.

"We've locked down all nano walls. It can't get through, to where we are."

"We still can't see it on any scanners – no thanks to this damn field."

"Well Genghis and his team are looking for it. They're pretty good."

John nodded absently.

"What's on your mind?"

"I'm thinking…" John sighed. He straightened up and came by her side, pulling a chair beside her. "I'm thinking that we should get out of here as fast as possible."

Sam pursed her lips as she looked at him. She sighed and leaned back in her chair stopping her work.

"That old feeling, huh?"

John shrugged. "The other arks were constructed by us…_humans_."

Sam nodded.

"Nevada is the only Ark facility that was here before…well…I mean, the portal was constructed by, god-knows-who to Mars, dammit! Before _us_ – that's _known_ civilization – some goddamn race or some_thing_ discovered interstellar travel!"

"Well actually its only teleportation." Sam said.

John gave her a look and she smiled. "I get it," she said. "Some unknown civilization built and unknown device to a planet that can't be reached by man-made travel in less than a year."

John nodded.

"Your point being?" she said, looking at him expectantly.

"This is the only Ark on earth," John said, "that we cannot completely account for. We don't know anything about it."

"We know lots about it, John. We couldn't have built the other Arks without this knowledge."

"Sam, do you how _that_ civilization used it?" John said.

She was silenced.

"The other Arks may have been based on the model of the portal in Nevada but they were built by us. But, to _use_ this Ark we need nuclear_ freaking_ reactors to power it up, Sam. We didn't find any nuclear reactors dating that many centuries ago. How did they use it? How did they power it up? How did they direct their travel? We took fifteen years before we could get to Mars in _one_ piece. That too, with all our _seemingly_ advanced technology."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Do you know exactly what happened at Deimos?"

"Not the finer points."

"You do know the ark that was used by those goddamn monsters was one of the pre-existing portals on the planet."

"From Magnus, to Deimos, yes." She nodded.

"How do you think that creature knew how to use it?"

Sam shrugged. "Wasn't it an accidental teleportation?"

"I don't think it was, Sam. See – because that _thing_ when it reached Deimos could have easily teleported to the Ark facility in Hawaii, or the one in Alaska. Both Arks were operational – the portals were open. They were both _accidental_ teleportations waiting to happen. But they didn't. Instead, the one that was closed off - the one that was already there, was used."

"So what's your theory?"

John could see from the look on Sam's face that she didn't believe him.

"The arks at Hawaii and Alaska were made by us. They needed protocols – passwords, code structures, and heck! They even need the fucking directions!"

"John, even if there is some logic to your theories, I don't get what you're trying to say."

"Nevada was sealed off in the confidence that this Ark could not be used by any external source, because it cannot be powered up with out having to activate the reactors from _this_ side of the Ark."

"So?"

"So – what if you don't need any goddamn rectors from that side? Or even from _this_ side, for that matter? What if there is another way to use it? I mean, you said it yourself. Maybe the civilization built the portal to come here. They wouldn't have any goddamn power source that could generate this much energy!"

"Ah but, you see, John. There's another thing. Someone has to be there at the other end to teleport. Olduvai's in ruins. The base is exposed to the surface – it's as good as dead,"

"Someone," John nodded. "Or something."

----

"Your colour's an interesting shade."

Poet said as he configured the Ark's logs into the defragmenter. He looked towards Phoenix as she fidgeted with the core's internal circuits. They were silently working till then, with the occasional interruption from Genghis' comm report.

Poet shook his head and gave in another set of orders to the computer when she didn't respond. "I guess I sound like some stupid blind man movie saying that, huh?"

He didn't expect an answer and he didn't get one. Wiping the sweat if his brow, he pushed in another cable into the machine and said, "You're getting the creeps from this place, aren't you?"

Phoenix sighed and stood up. Poet heard her unzipping her jacket. It was actually a spare jacket they had found on the base, and it was too big for her lean frame. She and Reaper had to change after getting doused in sewage water. He heard the sound of the jacket dropping to the ground.

"Kinda stuffy?" He said, looking at her. Her colours changed to an interesting shade. It seemed as if the heat around her body was dissipating. He took that to be a yes.

"Don't let Hobbit, see you that way. He's still under the impression you're flat tyre."

She was far from flat. Phoenix was wearing a black in-shirt, with its sleeves just barely covering her shoulder. Poet sometimes couldn't help staring at her figure. The girl though seemingly careless about her looks, on the contrary dressed herself to hide. When completely dressed in her uniform she just looked like your everyday G.I. Jane. The Rangers learned otherwise when Sandman's wife asked her to be a bridesmaid for their wedding. Poet still chuckled when he thought of the hanging jaws of the men when the girl came out in that peach dress.

If she was flat – it was only in the right places.

Phoenix had been a reluctant bridesmaid that day – more so because the men couldn't stop ogling at her. Of course, none of them saw her embarrassment. Her face was as pale and seemingly nonchalant as ever – but Poet saw her colours turn to unique shades of pink. She had been furiously blushing inside.

"You ever wonder what would happen if one of us asked you out, Phoenix?" Poet said, glancing at her, reaching for a spanner to open the motherboard of the Ark's computer.

Phoenix shrugged.

"I guess you'd punch 'em in the face, huh?" He stopped tweaking the unit and looked at her.

She didn't answer, but the corners of her mouth twitched.

"So, what do you think of that Reaper guy?"

Poet didn't need to hear an answer this time. Many a times looking at Pheonix was like looking at a pair of twins superimposed on each other. The external twin gave a non-committing, disinterested response in the form of silence or a shrug; and the one inside – would be acutely alarmed. Phoenix's colour had turned to a bright shade of amber. His suspicion grew tenfold. Even the mere mention of Reaper got her internal alarms to set off.

"You know," he said, still testing her reaction further. "They say, he used to be an archaeologist. Like his sister. Didn't get as far as she did, though."

She looked at him and raised her eyebrows as if to say. 'Oh?' Her colour was still amber.

"Wonder why he joined the marines," Poet said, shrugging.

Poet saw something he didn't expect. Phoenix gave him a facial shrug as if to say 'beats me!' before she bent down and detached the white circular panels surrounding the core; but her colour changed to a light blue. He knew that colour very well on humans – it was the colour people showed whenever they pitied him and his blindness. It was a colour he saw less often on Phoenix.

It was almost as if Phoenix knew why.

"You know," he said. "There's really little you can hide from me."

Phoenix's head snapped up, her colour changed to amber. Poet sighed and decided to change the subject. He didn't want to make it harder on her than it already seemed to be. "You should get out more often, Quinn. A solitary life is not meant for the young."

He only called her Quinn whenever he was dead serious. It was the only tone of voice he could use to get her to open her mouth.

"It's not as though you have a raging love life, Poet." She said.

"Well I'm not a twenty-four year old red head, with my whole life ahead of me, either. Don't let that scar get in the way of your life, Phoenix. You're more than what that thing has done to your face."

"I didn't join the marines to have a life."

"You didn't join the marines to get rid of your life either, Phoenix."

Phoenix sighed and Poet noticed that she had paused her work. She had been in the process of checking the wires.

She looked at him with those steely grey eyes and shrugged. "No, I guess I didn't."

Poet noticed her colour had changed to a lonely shade of grey.

"_Poet, what kind of technology can create such an electromagnetic field?"_ Hobbit's voice was heard through the comm.

"I guess it probably would operate on the principle of the nano walls." Poet said, getting his mind back on track.

"_Yeah but, wouldn't you need like projectors frames or something – something to hold the field? Like the wall frame of the nano walls? "_

"Yeah," said Poet, "but you'd really need something big."

"_We don't have that kind of technology, right?"_

Poet suddenly frowned.

"_Poet? Answer me! " _

"Hobbit shut up!" Poet said. "Phoenix? Did you turn on core power?"

"No." He heard her say as he stood up and looked at the panels. The lights had come on. Words were blinking on the console.

_Core power at 10 percent._

"Gryffin! Hobbit! Reaper! Anybody! Who turned on core power?"

"_Negative"_

"_No, sir."_

"_Poet, what's going on?"_

The door opened suddenly and Genghis came through. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. "

_Core power at 12 percent._

"Reaper!" Genghis shouted. "Dr. Grimm. Get up here."

"_On our way."_

"_Sarge_," Gryffin was heard. "_I'm trying to shut it down but it's automatically rerouting." _

"How can that damn thing come on? Every body's here."

_Core power at 15 percent._

As Reaper and Samantha came in to the chamber, every light in the Ark chamber came on and the whole place was flooded with brightness.

"_Er, sarge – I don't know what's going on, because I think I we just established a signal from the satellite._" Smith said.

"What the fuck-?" Genghis cocked his weapon. Phoenix scooted to where her chain gun lay and readied it.

Poet frowned and pulled out his black box and plugged into the Ark computer. A series of equations flashed at lightning speed; so much that even Poet couldn't register it. The men powered their weapons and backed away from the core.

"Sam!" Reaper said. "Get to the Hub."

"But-" she protested.

"NOW!"

Phoenix avoided colliding into Sam as she rushed to the main system console on the opposite console and tried to override it. The exit doors opened again and Hobbit, Bazooka and Gamgee came in.

"Gryffin!" She called. "Try overriding the system!"

"_It's not working! I'm locked out!"_

"Reboot it!"

"_Tried that!"_

This time the message came from a robotized voice._ "Core power at 25 percent."_

"Fuck! The computers voice interface just got activated!"

Within seconds the voice came again. _"Core power at 50 percent."_

"That was fast!" Genghis muttered.

"It's exponentially doubling!" Sam screamed from the hub.

"_Core power at one hundred percent. Initiating core sequence." _

Phoenix stopped playing with the system console and stood besides Reaper.

"_Core matter at 10 percent fluidity." _

Poet stared at the equations of his defragmenter and screamed. "FUCK!"

"What?"

Smith answered for him. _"Some other access point is trying to gain entry!"_

"Smith, I don't speak computer bullshit! English dammit!" Genghis hollered.

Poet jumped away from control unit and grabbed his chain gun and punched in a magazine. "Some other program is accessing the ark!"

"FUCKING HOW?

"_I don't know…something might be signaling it._"

"What? From fucking _where_?"

"Wait!" Poet ran back to the control unit. "The field must be down! That's we have a link with the satellite!"

"_Core matter at 50 percent fluidity."_

"Why's the ark taking so much time to get activated?" Poet said. "Smith, that signal must be coming from somewhere else!"

"LOCATE IT!" Genghis roared.

"_Core matter at 75 percent fluidity."_

"_Okay, Sarge – we have another problem." _Smith spoke after two seconds.

"What?"

"_I don't know what's accessing the system. I can't locate any goddamn source."_

"How the fuck can that be?"

"_BECAUSE! I CAN'T FIND ANY GODDAMN SIGNAL_!_"_

"There is _no_ incoming transmission!" Sam cried. It must be someone hacking in through some external network."

"Like what? A hacker!" Reaper shouted.

"A hacker cannot activate the Ark, John."

"_Core matter at 100 percent fluidity. Ark is ready for activation."_

Poet's eyes met with Phoenix and his fingers froze.

Before they could get a chance to react the voice spoke again. "_All personnel standby for ark activation_."

"HOW THE FUCK CAN THAT ARK GET ACTIVATED ON ITS OWN? GRYFFIN SHUT THE DAMN THING DOWN"

"_CONTROLS ARE REFRACTORY, SIR! THE SYSTEM IS FROZEN"_

"All right, men," Genghis shouldered his gun. "Let's get tough for some action! Everyone take cover."

"_Ark activate, standby for incoming."_

John ducked behind one of the control consoles, everyone did the same.

"POET! The Hub! NOW!"

John did not miss Poet shoot a dirty glare at Phoenix. He also did not miss the fierce blazing in Phoenix's grey eyes, just as he did not miss the authority of her voice. It took him by surprise – even in this moment of tension. "Are you giving orders on my turf, soldier?" Genghis barked sternly at Phoenix.

"His goddamn _eyes,_ sir!"

Poets optimers would fry if he was around when the teleportation bubble would form.

"Dammit, I forgot! Poet you heard her!"

"But sir –"

"You have your _fucking_ orders, soldier. I will not have my second in command invalidated because of a stupid condition! Now! _Inside_ the Hub! Smith! Take his place. Gryffin! Sandman! "

Poet muttered angrily and jogged towards the Hub entrance, just as Gryffin, Sandman and Smith slipped out to join them. Genghis shook his head. John heard him mutter. "I'd be grateful to have someone spare me this task! The stubborn dick!"

Then he shouted. "Whatever comes through does not leave this chamber alive, AM I CLEAR? Shut down ALL the exits!"

"YES SIR!" They all chimed.

Before them a steel grey orb began to form and elongate into an oblong shape.

Whatever was on the other side was coming through.


	8. Chapter 8

-8-

_Keeeeayyyyaah!_

It was a screech that reached their bones. John gave one glance at Sam whose eyes were glued to him through the window overlooking the Ark. The bubble grew to a monstrous size and in a minute spat something huge and dark out. The thing screeched and collided against the walls of the chamber.

Bazooka was the closest thing to it. The gun happy giant was only too pleased to oblige.

The first thing John thought of when he saw the enormous bird was dinosaurs.

It looked like the model of some ancient raptor, which formed some sort of missing link between reptiles and birds. Its head looked like a hammer-head shark's and its body was like a dragons coupled with an arrowhead tail. He did not join in the mayhem of screeches, the sound of flapping wings mixed with the sound of gunfire. The bird thrashed about, and all John did was avoid getting hit by its sharp wings or talons.

He kept his eyes on the core. Another bubble was forming. He knew his weren't the only eyes on it. Phoenix had both her gaze and her gun fixed on the bubble that was forming.

It wasn't a screech this time – it was a thunderous roar that silenced the guns.

The raptor sputtered and finally gave in and fell dead, only a few seconds after another demon as big as Hell Knight sprang through the bubble, only to be greeted by his and Phoenix's bullets.

John sprang over the console and fired his rounds from its back, desperately trying to get the head while Phoenix tackled it from the front. A bullet whizzed by his ear, which he ducked and jumped towards the circular panels, rolling on the floor, barely missing the next monster than was thrown out.

"POET!" He heard Genghis say. "WE HAVE TO STOP THE FUCKING ARK! KEEP ALL EXITS SECURE!"

All soldiers moved to the periphery, except John because he was trying to make his way outwards. He lost count of how many creatures entered or how they look – the only thing he could see with any clarity as heavy bodies lunged at him was the flash of light when the guns discharged, the only thing he felt was his hand moving in unison with the recoiling vibrations of his gun and the only thing he heard was the roaring of the monster and the screams of the men. Blood and body fluids splattered every where. John rolled over to a kneeing position and fired his rounds at the incoming monsters, his finger only leaving the trigger to reload.

He was out of ammo soon enough, he ducked under a table and shouted it out. From somewhere a magazine was slid to him, he caught it and punched it in. He crawled out to find Phoenix standing nearby her face set in stone as she blew the head off one of the imps. John continued to fire, as he tried to move towards the hub entrance to guard it. The closest route was not possible – most of the demons were being flung in that direction.

"Cover me!" he shouted as he decided to take the longer way around. Phoenix moved along with him until he slid sideways towards the entrance and she moved forward to cover Bazooka. She suddenly turned abandoned her heavy chain gun and pulled out her heavy duty pistol.

She had run out, too.

John kept his eye on her as he continued to fire. Why did she give him her magazine? Was she stupid? She would have known she'd be out soon. Suddenly keeping the door safe became a lesser priority in comparison to the woman who looked miniscule as she defended herself against a grotesque creature with only a goddamn pistol.

"Reaper!"

John looked up and caught the pack of magazines that Poet had just thrown to him. Poet was blowing up the demons through a porthole in the Hub wall, above the door, that John had forgotten about.

"Keep that righteous bitch alive!" Poet yelled. He also tossed John a high power double barreled shotgun. He made his way towards the interior of the chaos, looking for Phoenix, whom he didn't find anywhere. He slammed the butt of his gun against an imp who had just pounced on him. The creature fell back; he ripped it apart with his gunfire.

He ducked around a table and blew up a couple more.

The core fell silent and for a minute everyone lowered their guns. John looked around. Where was Phoenix?

"WHERE the fuck is PHOENIX?" Genghis hollered as he finished the mushroomed the last one - huge creature with too many eyes.

John scanned the pile of dead monsters, and found one that was crouched, snarling and struggling with its head ducked under, as though it was trying to bite something.

_Please! Don't let it have gotten her!_ Not for him! He didn't want anyone dying for him.

John was about to aim at it when the ark started to spit out a group of monsters one after the other. They were all similar. Pink, with big heads and horns and dirty yellow eyes. They crouched in a circle around the core for maybe a second and then began running towards the men.

The flurry of gunfire that followed seemed to last forever. John avoided shooting with the shotgun as much as possible and tried to make it towards the imp. One of the pink monsters pounced on to his back and he fell face down into a pool of blood and slime, writhing to get on his back as he fired. John wedged his gun between the pinky's slimy mouth and his face and fired. Its head exploded into a gazillion pieces.

Heaving as he got up he saw that the imp whom he had seen before suddenly looked up and turned its head towards him. Its filthy teeth had blood trickling from the edges. John sighed despondently crouched again, ready to kill it with a vengeance as it jerked suddenly – not at him, but rather it flopped down, on its back. John saw the undersurface of its head had a gaping bullet hole. There was movement between it. John aimed his gun, ready to fire at the emerging demon he assumed Phoenix might have become when the same imp was flung back and he saw Phoenix, her shoulder grazed with scratches and her shift covered with blood, sat up and shook her head. She had a disgusted face when she tried to wipe the blood out of her eyes. She scrambled off the ground and straightened up.

John made to help her when she suddenly pointed her pistol at him, between his eyes. He froze, raising the hand with the shot gun in a gesture of defense.

She only said one word – in a loud, clear, unmistakable order.

"Duck."

_Bang. _

He obeyed, feeling the heat of the first bullet slicing through the air over head, missing his head – but close enough to make the hair of his head stand straight.

_Bang._

The second bullet went over his head as he had crouched to his knees.

_Bang. _

The third bullet zipped past his head as he fell to the ground. John turned on his back, firing – but stopped when he saw that there was no need.

The pinky with three strategic bullets; through its brain, its heart and its stomach bend over and fell just as he rolled away from its landing site. John flipped on to his knees, firing his chain gun at the packs of pinkies that were coming in. Phoenix stood by his side, standing straight her gun recoiling as she fired rounds in a circular fashion at the increasing number of demons.

"Phoenix!" He tossed the gun to her just as she pulled her pistol back when the rounds were over.

She didn't bother playing with the pistol any more and aimed the shotgun at the heads of each demon. Even in the heat of battle John noticed that she fired only one shot at each demon, that too only in the head between their eyes and it was all that was needed for the goddamn motherfuckers.

John raised himself and they both made towards the hub entrance, through a mess of corpses, blood and empty shells. When they reached the entrance and flattened themselves facing towards the core. Genghis hollered from the north exit.

"Poet! Throw us a couple of SST grenades."

"_NO_!" Sam shouted. "_It'll kill you all. The core is still active_."

"We're as good as dead anyway, we're running out of ammo!"

"_NO_! _You don't know what you're gonna be doing!"_

"She's right!" Poet yelled.

"POET!" Phoenix shouted, looking up at the porthole. "Where the hell are these things coming from?"

"Hell, itself." John muttered.

"What?"

"Mars, goddamn, it, where else?"

"Smith!" Phoenix shouted. "Were there any incoming frequencies to the base, when the power came on?"

"WHAT?"

"I said, were there any incoming frequencies to the base when the power came on?"

Smith replied with a "Fuuuuck!" followed by a series of shelling. Then he shouted. "Goddamn it! Phoenix, if I had recieved any don't you think I'd have _fucking_ said so?"

"What about the frequencies which the Ark transceiver receives?"

"What transceiver? I don't fucking know about any transceiver."

Phoenix cursed under her breath and then looked up "POET?"

"I'd love to find out if the damn ark would stop teleporting these freaks!"

"_I'll do it!"_ Sam was heard on the comm.

"Goddamn it!" John said as he reloaded.

"What?"

"This is my last magazine."

"MOTHERFUCKER! WHEN IS THIS GOING TO STOP!" Genghis yelled. "That thing's spitting out more and more!"

"_Phoenix, there's a high signal pulse signal that's being received by the Ark."_

"What signal?" Smith said.

"How high?" Phoenix said.

"_I don't believe it!"_ They heard her gasp.

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled simultaneously.

"_It's well over the gamma spectrum! It's undetectable by our transceivers_"

"What?" John said.

"_It's so high we can't even calculate it. Over ten raised to thirty hertz."_

"Huh?" John looked at Phoenix, for an explanation.

"We can't detect it, but the ark can." She said, just before blowing up the head of an attacking imp.

"So how does this help us?" John said.

"We can block it!" Poet shouted.

"What?" Phoenix seemed to be so surprised she actually looked up "How?"

"Phoenix, do you know how to construct a low-pass filter?"

"Maybe."

"Well I can't do it, or the core will fry the eyes you try so hard to protect!"

"Spare me the sarcasm, Poet!"

John didn't understand a word of what Poet said to her after that. It sounded like a whole lot of physics jargon.

"The stuff you'll need is in my kit."

"Where's that?"

"Under the control console."

John slammed his head back in frustration. The control console was on the other side of the room.

"Hey Reaper!"

John looked up. Poet threw down a weapon. John looked at it for two minutes, not believing his eyes. "Where the fuck did you get this?"

"I bought it from the souvenir shop." Poet said sarcastically as John activated the weapon. "Where the fuck do you think Reaper? Borrowed it from the armory of course! Kept it for an emergency. This would qualify to be one."

A message flashed. _Identify._

"John Grimm. ID 964456. Rangers Special Ops."

_ID rejected. Identify._

John looked up at Poet. Poet shrugged. "Lucky for me you're the first to try it."

"These things are four years old, aren't they?" Phoenix said.

"Wouldn't matter if they were new, we're out of…!"

"Reaper," Phoenix sighed, cutting him off and then aimed at a monster and shot. "They're _four_ years old. They're probably programmed to the previous databases."

Was she stupid? John made a face and said. "So?"

"So, use your bloody RRTS ID, you prat!"

John frowned and said. "John Grimm ID 445682. RRTS Special Ops."

_ID Accepted._

"_RRTS Special Ops, clearance verified. Handle ID: Reaper_."

John couldn't help grinning as he charged the rifle and fired.

Zap!

John eliminated four demons in one go. He nodded at Phoenix who followed him as they made their way around to the control console.

"I need to keep a distance!" John said as he aimed at new incomings.

"Just keep them off my arse and you can keep whatever distance you want!" she said, blowing an imp to pieces.

… _Stupid arse!..._

John shook the memory out of his head as he ducked a monster. Phoenix ducked to the ground when she came closer to the table, pushing away corpses and reached for Poet's kit.

"Fuck! Hobbit!" John screamed as a bullet zipped past his shirt, causing a tear. "WATCH IT! Quinn, how much time will you fucking take?" John yelled.

Phoenix emerged from under the table, panting heavily. "Oh yeah? Why don't you try and get a capacitor from out of the mouth of a goddamn whatever these things are!"

"Just do what you have to!" John said, irritated.

"You do what you're supposed to!" Phoenix snapped as they made their way to the core. The whole ark floor was flooded with monster death. Phoenix kicked away a dead imp and sank to the floor. "I'm going to reach the core, just keep them off of me. And whatever you do, don't aim at the teleportation bubble!"

"We don't have all day, sweetheart." John yelled.

"Just give me my time, love" she drawled and crawled towards the core plates, ducking her head at each formation of the teleportation bubble.

…_We don't have all day sweetheart!..._

…_Just give me my time, love…_

Something seemed to set off in his head. If only he knew what it was. He made a mental note to think over it later. The five minutes she took seemed to be the longest five minutes in the world. John was shot, ducked, rolled, rammed every goddamn demon that emerged out. It was quite a task given the whizzing bullets from the other marines.

"PHOENIX! There's no time!" Genghis yelled.

"Just a minute!"

"THERE'S NO FUCKING TIME!"

Phoenix gave a victorious groan as she slithered out, pushing away the dead creatures in her way. John zapped a pinky that had just leaped onto her and it disintegrated over her head, its pieces mingling with her hair.

She gave a cry of relief as soon as she reached his boots. Then she turned around on her back and John felt her grabbing his pants.

"What the -?"

It happened too fast. Before he could complete, she yanked him down, simultaneously using the shotgun to fire at a point he could not see since he fell unceremoniously on his bottom. John didn't know how to react as she crawled on top of him and forced him to turn onto his front, crawling on top his body and she forced her hand against the back of his head, forcing him to press his face against the bloody floor, as her own face hit his cheek and sank into the back of the crook of his shoulder as something exploded near them. It wasn't a big explosion – but they were too close to the core for it not to affect them if they had not ducked.

There was a growl and a roar and something fell over their heads. John didn't see it, but he knew what it was. It was some part of the demon that was in the middle of transit. From his pressed face, the only thing he saw was the scar on Phoenix's head.

… _Maybe I did die…_

…_Maybe you did…guess you rose up from the ashes. Like a phoenix…_

John squeezed his eyes and tried hard to remember. It was no use. Both the voices in his memory were too faint, too distant. He closed his eyes as sparks fell by his side.

It worked.

Phoenix panted as she heard Genghis say those words. There was no screaming, no more firing, no more roaring.

Neither did she hear the men's hoots of victory or Poet's commendation. She only heard his breathing. Phoenix raised her head from John's back, her heart thumping more out of the proximity to him than the adrenaline rush of their hour long battle.

She removed her hand from Reaper's head, unobtrusively allowing her fingers thread through his hair – but she didn't lever off of him, allowing herself to feel his back rise and fall with his breathing against her own laboured respiration. The only thing going on in her head was that he was alive and okay. When he raised his head, she decided that she had given herself too much liberty.

She rolled off him, and sat up and watched as he scrambled up. Her plans to scoot away from him were stopped by him suddenly grabbing her shoulder and then her face, turning it around to check for any injuries, wiping off the blood to see if it was hers or something elses.

"Looks okay."

She jerked her head out of his hand and tried to get up. Her legs wouldn't move.

"Shit!" she whispered, looking at her knees. For a minute she wondered if she had lost her limbs. She couldn't feel them.

"What?" John pressed his hand against her thighs.

She wanted to flinch her thighs, but they didn't cooperate.

"I - I can't move them."

She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut as Reaper squeezed her thighs, her knees and calves to check them.

"Does anything hurt?"

She shook her head furiously.

"Can you feel me touching you?"

She could have cried when he said those words. She bit her lip enough to draw blood and nodded. She could cry because his gentleness was too familiar.

"Hey! Hey!" She heard him whisper. "Give it a few seconds." His hand came on her shoulder. "It's probably because you were closer to the blast. You shouldn't have been shielding me, you know. It should have been the other way around."

When she opened her eyes, they were dry and devoid of any emotion, she snorted. "Because you're the guy, you get to be on top?"

He gave her that blasted cocky grin. The one that had sent her knees to water then, the one that didn't seem to help now, either. The only reason she didn't kill him for doing that to her again was probably because she knew he hadn't smiled that way in years.

"Hey," he said, softly. "You could nurse my ego, just a little bit!"

"Phoenix!" Genghis rushed to her side and put his arm around her shoulder. She allowed herself to lean into him for support, and for keeping away from John's hands. "You okay, girl? You did a fine job! What's the matter? What's wrong?"

Phoenix gave a small smile and folded her legs, when she was able to.

"Nothing, Sarge, just a bit of aftershock"

"Aftershock is a something I'd never like to see you use as an excuse, baby." Genghis said. He took her arm around his shoulder and hoisted her up.

She tried to push Genghis away saying, "I'm fine, really."

"Yeah right, and Gryffin's just got a boo-boo."

"What?" she turned around and saw Gamgee support his brother whose neck had a wound.

She heard Reaper curse and then start off towards the o'Rileys. Phoenix frowned and looked at Genghis and then touched face. There was an angry wound on his forehead. "You got a boo-boo, yourself, sergeant."

Genghis smiled at her. "Come on."

---

"He's okay, he's clean." Dr. Grimm said as she analyzed Gryffin's blood.

"I won't turn, right?" Gryffin said, holding the dressing tightly against his wound. Gamgee was wiping the blood off his face.

"No." She said, giving him an assuring smile. Phoenix silently sighed with relief.

Genghis pressed the dressing on his head and Bazooka lay on the bed next to her, wincing as Reaper injected him with an antibiotic. He had a bad head wound. Hobbit more shaken than hurt. Smith, too had minor wounds, and had already left for the Hub, to replace Poet who had just come into the infirmary. Sandman was the one with a badly dislocated shoulder. Phoenix frowned when she saw Reaper, who had been part of the crossfire more than anyone else had miraculously been spared of any sizeable wound.

She hissed suddenly, flinching when Poet applied an antiseptic pack on the scratches of her arms. He hadn't said a word to her. She wasn't about to start any conversations. She had pissed him off, she knew it. But she had done it for his own bloody good.

Poet scowled at her as he went to get the injection. Reaper came up to her and said, quietly "You saved my life."

"I get paid for it." She said, nonchalantly.

"Why did you give me your ammo?"

She looked up at him. His eyes she saw was a unique hazel green. Funny – she had always thought them to be brown. Maybe it was because she always saw them in the dark.

"You needed it."

"You knew you had your last set of rounds in your gun."

_Because I didn't want you to die, you stupid fool!_ She wanted to say. "Didn't seem to strike me, then." She said, instead.

Poet came with the antibiotic, and grabbed her arm a little forcefully; she winced painfully as he jabbed the injection. She saw Reaper's surprise at his actions, but he said nothing. She allowed him to be a little rough; it would help him get his annoyance out.

"Okay," Genghis said, all of a sudden, alerting their attention. "Somebody tell me what the fuck just happened?"


	9. Chapter 9

-9-

"Okay, here's my theory," Poet said. "When the portal was discovered it was understood there it had some sort of transceiver. For what? We didn't know. Now we see it allows for remote opening of one Ark to permit teleportation. The transceiver was tested for all frequencies that could be generated by man-made devices; somehow it didn't occur that it might possibly receive higher frequencies. In fact, I think it can only be activated by higher frequencies, via transceiver."

"Okay." Genghis nodded. "I get that."

"_The field's back on, sir_." Smith just reported.

"Obviously," Poet said. "The signal can penetrate through the field, being at a higher frequency and I think it can turn the field on and off according to its convenience."

"But why turn off?"

"For the Ark to operate, all electromagnetic disturbances must be removed. Including high power fields. That's why we could link with our satellite or establish any communication. The problem is, the high frequency signal was scrambling up our connection. We couldn't connect."

"So, basically all our electronic scanners are pretty much moot, right now," Sam said. She grabbed a sponge and began to mop the blood on Phoenix's face. Phoenix flinched from the attention but Sam gently told her this would make things easier.

"For unidentified life signs, yes. It's still able to read our thermal feeds."

"So, we can't be sure of any lurking monsters?" Genghis said.

"Not really."

"Okay," John said. "So that leaves us in a code red."

"Yes."

"And we can't call for backup," Gryffin said, "because we can't establish a link."

"So what can we do? Can we get out of here, to the nearest city and give a call, you think?" Sandman said, sarcastically.

"Well –" Poet made a facial shrug. The idea seemed pretty plausible.

"Don't answer that." Genghis ordered. "We'd be risking a mass invasion to earth if we just run away from this and call for backup."

John rubbed his eyes. Genghis was right. If they left now, which he really wanted to do, these things would follow them all the way.

"So how do we neutralize the threat – without being able to assess it?"

"We could blow up the Ark." Hobbit suggested.

"And wipe out Nevada State in a nuclear explosion?" Sam said. "I don't think so."

"Jeez! It's been nearly thirty-two hours since we've been down here, and we still don't know anything!" Bazooka said.

"How long will that filter hold?" Genghis said, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know. Right now, we need to find a way to disengage that field; we might make some amount of progress."

"_There's another thing, you're not considering. Disengaging the field might make it susceptible to a lower frequency activation of the transceiver._" Smith said.

"Not a chance," John said, rubbing his eyes and then looking at Phoenix, whose grey eyes was all that he could see on her slime covered face. "You blew the transceiver up, didn't you?"

There was a knowing smile in her eyes. Genghis looked impressed at Phoenix. She shrugged.

Poet said, "Smart thing too. If it screws up Ark travel, it's better for us. Nothing can get in without manual access."

"But the Ark is still operational?" Genghis said.

Poet nodded.

"And there's always the possible thing you saw in the sewer." Genghis muttered looking at John.

"So you believe me now?"

"Hell Reaper! After what I just saw, I'd believe anything. And there is the chance that there is more than one of those things, down there."

There was a pregnant silence.

"Can we afford to autopsy all the infiltrating creatures?" Sam said, breaking the silence.

"Under the circumstances," Gamgee said, "considering that we're sitting ducks with no communications, and all. It wouldn't be such a bad idea, sir."

Genghis nodded, taking the idea into consideration. "We need to find that damn creature in the sewer and kill it."

They all nodded in unison. Genghis gave an exhausted sigh and then said, "Looks like we can't afford much rest, either."

He looked around at each of them and said, "Bazooka, Hobbit, Gryffin and I will get all the weapons up here; Gamgee, Poet. You two help Dr. Grimm get those freaks into the lab. Phoenix, Reaper. You two are first gonna get cleaned up; make it as quick as possible. After which Phoenix, you and Poet will work on the ark. If those things came now, it means they've been here before and if the Ark is operational, there is a chance they can come again. Reaper, you have some experience in Archaeology, am I correct?"

"Hardly!" John said, "I've been out of –"

"And old dog is better at sniffing out a bone than a deer, Reaper." He cut him off.

"Genghis, I want to help you find that thing down there."

"It's a simple quarantine operation, Reaper. We've done it before, we can do it again. I want you to stick with your sister and help her out. Those freaks may be dead, but I don't trust them. Dr. Grimm?"

Sam raised her head waiting for Genghis' orders.

"My orders were to ensure that any information we assess remained safe and classified. I understand those were your orders too, especially with regards the archaeology section?"

She nodded.

"Safe and classified," Gamgee said. "This was an abandoned base. What could –"

"This didn't strike me, at first, but now I'm beginning to think there is more to this than the HQ lets on. It's possible that they might know something about this base that we don't. Why else send an archaeologist here when it's a simple investigative mission?"

He paused to take a deep breath.

"The thing is," Genghis said. "I'm not a conventional soldier; I never was. I'm terrible at following orders, especially when they'll probably get me killed. So, if you find anything, either from those creatures or anything else, Dr. Grimm, you will report it to me. Am I understood?"

Sam nodded. John had to hand it to Genghis. He was a bastard, but a good leader.

"Smith!"

"_Yes, sir."_

"Once Sandman is ready, he'll come to surveillance. Till then you're on the job. Don't bother wasting time with surface communication; just try to find a way to check that field. Understood?"

"_Roger that, sir_."

"Once we're done, we'll decide the rotations."

They all nodded before they dispersed.

John went quietly with Phoenix towards the bathrooms. Gryffin had helped them locate some utilities including clean underwear which they had in hand, before he went ahead with Genghis.

As always, Phoenix had slipped into silent mode.

When they reached the men and women section, John stopped and told her. "The water goes to the sewage, right?"

She nodded.

"And we haven't yet checked the plumbing and overhead vents."

She didn't respond.

"I think we should be cautious about this."

The look on her face told him she understood that he was implying that they shouldn't be all that far apart. She nodded and then raised her eyebrows towards the men's door and then the women's door as if to say, 'which one?'

"Hell! I'm not bathing in the women's shower!" John quipped.

Phoenix sneered at him as he pushed the door open and held it for her to go through.

She went past him and turned on the lights. John locked the door and checked the bathrooms once. "It's clear. Smith," he said, into his comm. "I'm turning all gun cams off for a little privacy here."

"_Aww, I was hopin' to get Phoenix naked!_" Smith joked. "_Anyway, roger that._"

Phoenix gave one of her standard bleak smiles and shook her head. John grimaced and then said to her, "You take the shower on the extreme left and I'll take the right. That way we'll have our privacy."

She nodded and went towards the cubicle.

"You better check the water, before you step into it." He called after her. She did not turn to acknowledge him. John watched her retreating back as she did so until she disappeared behind the door. He turned towards his cubicle and waited for the sound of her shower to come on before he turned on the water. He arranged his clothes; towel and the soap on the shelf provided for the same and kept his comm, his pistol and rifle over it.

The water seemed clean and his scanner showed no abnormal readings. Finally confident he placed the scanner next to the comm and divested himself of his wet and sticky clothes and stepped in.

Phoenix raised her face to the warm jet, keeping her eyes closed as the warmth seemed into her body. The abrasions on her arms stung as she turned but she ignored the pain. She untied her hair and scrubbed it with some soap, wishing she had a decent shampoo. The only vanity she allowed herself was her hair.

She was not unaware that not far from her the man she was trying to avoid was naked and wet as well.

"Dammit!" She swore loudly, reminding herself that such thoughts were not welcome.

"_What happened?"_ she heard his voice over the comm, through the water, and remembered that the comms were open for their security.

"Nothing, just…er…dropped the soap."

"_Okay_."

She placed her palms flat on either side of the wall unit and breathed heavily to calm herself. The water was having its soothing effect. Slowly her mind cleared, as her cubicle filled up with steam. She felt her eyes closing – all this relaxing was putting her to sleep. She sat down in the cubicle, under the spray and leaned her head against the opposite wall and closed her eyes. She wasn't going to sleep, she told herself. She'd just rest her eyes a little.

John switched off his shower and grabbed the towel. Through his comm he heard the crackling sound of water coming from Phoenix's side. He peeked out of the cubicle, wrapping the towel around his waist and saw that she hadn't come out.

_Women!_ He thought. No matter what kind they were they'd spend ours pampering themselves.

He decided to get dressed outside the confines of the cubicle seeing that there was no risk of her walking in on him.

Five minutes later John stood dressed in front of the mirror, combing his wet hair with his hands. He frowned, looking through the mirror towards her cubicle. The shower was still on.

"Phoenix?" he said, loud enough for her to hear him from there. "You okay in there?"

No response.

"Phoenix?"

Nothing.

"Phoenix?" He said through the comm. "Are you okay?"

When she didn't answer, John picked up his plasma rifle and charged it, headed cautiously towards her cubicle door.

"Phoenix!" he called louder this time. Through the shaded partitions of the cubicle, in the light he saw a shadow crouched against the door. It did not look like anyone was standing under a shower inside that cubicle.

His heart began to pound.

"PHOENIX!" He slammed his fist on the door. The shadow fell forwards. John stood back and flung his leg on the door, bursting it open.

Steam and a spray of water poured straight into his eyes. John tried to clear his vision when out of nowhere something dark came at his chin. He stepped back as pain shot through his jaw bone and he slipped on the water landing hard on his back.

He recovered quickly and found himself staring into the double barrel of a shot gun, held by one hand and Phoenix standing over him, her eyes shining as she held a badly wrapped towel in place with her other hand.

"What. The. FUCK. Do. You. THINK. You're. DOING?" She bit each word out in an unmistakable tone of danger.

John heaved as he sat up and shouted. "What the fuck did _you_ think you were doing? I was practically yelling for you!"

Her eyes narrowed and John thrust her shotgun out of his view and made to sit up, but it came back and the barrel was pressed against his mouth. He glared at Phoenix.

"I didn't hear, you call." She said in a suspicious tone.

"Yeah! I figured! Fuck! You scared the life out of me, you bitch! You didn't answer, goddamn it! What the hell were you doing? Why couldn't you hear me, are you deaf or something?"

The gun was retracted and she jerked it to safety using her one hand and she said, sarcastically, "Maybe I am."

John rose angrily. "Then you don't deserve to be in the marines, soldier."

"Sod off." She said calmly. "Now get out of my face so I can get dressed."

John could have struck her for her goddamn callousness. He would have done it, too, had she not pulled back into the cubicle and slammed the door in his face. When he stood there for two minutes staring at the door and her silhouette moving within, turning off the shower and obviously drying herself off, he realized he was panting.

"So what the fuck were you doing in there, huh? Sleeping?" he barked.

She didn't answer, John didn't care and he just kept his eyes glued to the movement of the shadow.

John pounded his fist into the door, in frustration and said, "I'm not moving from here until you are out, so you can forget trying to ignore me."

There was no answer.

John pounded his fist on it again, gritting his teeth, more to remove the tension within him, rather than anything else.

The third time he slammed his fist against the door, it was met with no resistance in as she had opened the door and something was flung sharply onto his face. John felt her get past him as he pulled out whatever it was and found it was her soiled uniform.

Muttering curses he threw it away and went towards the mirror where she was toweling her hair, staring coldly at the reflection as she did so. He met her gaze through the mirror and said, "Phoenix! I don't get it! I was shouting enough for a goddamn sloth wake up."

She didn't answer him again, but her eyes averted. John watched as she toweled her hair quickly. The warmth of the shower had brought some colour to her skin. She was wearing a black tank and she looked pink and almost childish. She chucked the towel aside and combed her fingers through her auburn hair which looked almost brown when wet. John sighed and leaned against the wall, watching her absently. He noticed that her hair was curly and when they were relaxed about her face she that scar didn't stand out so much. He hated to admit it, but she looked pleasant.

"Do you mind?" she asked, finally.

John snapped out of his absent thinking and realized he had been staring at her the whole time she arranged herself.

"Yeah, I do. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Look!" she said, in annoyance. "I might have dozed off okay! I'm fucking sorry, if that makes you feel any better."

She leaned to pick up the jacket placed on the other side and John saw that there was tattoo on her right shoulder. A fiery bird with its talons hovering over a pit of flames.

A phoenix.

John felt something click in his mind, but he ignored it when he irritation took over. "Phoenix, you don't goddamn understand, do you?"

"No, Reaper!" She shouted, putting on her jacket. "I understand perfectly well, but I'm not superhuman, so stop faffing and cut me some fucking slack! And stop staring at me like some peeved goddamn….husband!"

She stormed past him and he yelled after her, "Oh yeah! Well guess what? That's three sentences more than you've spoken in the last thirty six hours!"

When he reached the lab, he found a huge, ugly beast lying on the floor, with a triumphant Genghis standing over it. Hobbit was whimpering as he held a deep wound on his arm which Gamgee was trying to patch.

"Nice work, Genghis." John said, moving around the creature.

"We think, this was the only one there," Genghis said. "Thing is – I don't know how we missed it in the second sweep, so we could have missed something now too."

John nodded. "Where's Bazooka?"

"Hobbit's suggested something, before he got his arm nearly ripped off, of course. Smith, the others are on the job. Their modifying the nano walls from the armory to guard as many entrances to sewers as possibles."

"The advantage to this base is," Gamgee said as he swatted Hobbit to keep him still as he sutured his wound. "There are access strips to each of the sewer vents – so our chances of being secure are better."

Hobbit yelped as Gamgee dabbed something on his wound. "Stop crying like a girl, Hobbit!"

"The only girl on this mission is Phoenix, goddammit!" Hobbit shouted and then yelped again.

"Yeah, well she's got better pain tolerance so shut the fuck up!"

"_Sergeant."_ It was Poet. "_The defragmenter identified a hidden series of logs in the Ark's database."_

"Defragmenter?" Sam voiced John's query.

"That little black device he carries?" Genghis said. "It reads all computer information down to its numerical coding. It's a pain in the ass, and if you're no good at math, it can confuse all the shit in your brain. Go on, Poet."

"_Sarge, you're not going to believe this. The logs are superimposed on the existing logs. It's a very neat trick; separate logs are never created because of a program. It's like two logs stuck so close on top of each other that any ordinary decoding device would not read it. I wouldn't have discovered it…if it weren't for…"_

He broke off.

"Weren't for, what?" John said.

"_My optimers. I could see a penumbra around each digit. Kinda like butter-paper tracings over the actual image._"

"Poet, pretend for a minute I don't read the ultimate geek manual for quantum physic dummies and rephrase everything you said!"

"_That does not matter, Sarge, the point here is, according to Phoenix, this program has been _put_ in here."_

"What do you mean?"

"_She says this program was once some sort of virus that was very popular. It entered pretty much like a Trojan horse. It would overwrite your files but never actually erase your data. It was only if you were using those files that you'd know the virus was there. No one is using these logs, Sarge. If someone put in this program, no one would come to know."_

"Wait a minute," John said. "How did that get there?"

"_That's the thing. The odds of this particular program being transmitted from outside the planet to our computers would be very slim. I don't think Martians know how to use our computers, besides the Ark log database was created by us. I don't think they have any use for the logs._

"Or any reason to hide their visits." John said pensively.

"_Also we tracked this program to the mainframe. I'd bet you fifty bucks that there are a lot of hidden files on all computers."_

"Fuck!" Genghis swore. "Someone's being using this facility!"

"_Or accessing it through a network."_

"Sam," John said. "Did you get anything on the infiltrators?"

"I didn't get a chance." She shook her head. "We had just brought the last of them in here when Genghis came with this thing. I'll start up just as soon as –"

"No," Genghis said. "We're going to get some rest. All of us. If we're going to beat whatever it is that's trying to get to this side, we'll need to be at a hundred percent functionality."

"Can we risk it?" John said. Though he didn't approve of spending unnecessary time here, he felt the exhaustion of two sleepless nights setting in. The incident with Phoenix in the showers, told him the others needed it more than he did.

"We stick together and keep alert, we'll be fine. No one sleeps alone. Phoenix, you're bunking with Dr. Grimm, o'Riley's you two together, Sandman with me, Reaper, you're with Smith, and Poet with Hobbit, Bazooka you get the first watch. It's now 0100, we're all up and ready by 0600. Understood?"

---

"John!" Sam called after him as he stalked towards the bunkers. He stopped and waited her to catch up with him. "What happened?" she asked him. "I heard you two arguing over the comms."

She was talking about Phoenix. Remembering their spat gave a sour taste in his mouth.

"Mind your own goddamn business!" He mumbled as he walked past her towards the bunkers. John slammed open his door and tossed his gun angrily on the bed. Smith wasn't there yet. He stood furiously and allowed himself to calm down before he sat. He sighed as he pulled off his tee and sat on the bunker.

He didn't know what it was about Phoenix that got under his skin; he kept telling himself that it was her odd behavior but he knew it was something more than that.

Breathing heavily he wiped his face with a towel. The only image in front of his head was her scarred pale face and those grey eyes.

"Maybe you like her?"

Samantha intruded into his thoughts just as she intruded into his quarters.

"Of all the places to match make, this hell hole is what you find?" John quipped.

"I'm not saying you like her that way…though the way you keep staring at her…" She had a look of mock pensiveness. John playfully flung a pillow at her.

"Hey!" She caught it. "It's not me! I'll believe anything you say, brother!"

"I am not attracted to her."

Sam shook her head. "I guess she's no man's type, huh?"

"Look it's not because of the scar or anything, jeez! Women!"

"Did I say anything?"

"Face it, Sam, looks aside, she isn't exactly the most sociable person on the planet, here!"

"My lips are sealed, John. I didn't say anything." Sam broke into a knowing smile.

"Oh yeah?" John grinned. "Wipe that stupid smile off your face, or I'll do it for you."

Sam chuckled. "Admit it, John. She impressed you. Whether you like her or not, it's been a long time since anyone…" At the look on John's face, she stressed. "_Man_ or woman, who's been able to do that. Anyway, I'm beat. " Sam headed for the door. "I'll catch some beauty sleep and maybe write a letter or something."

John nodded at her as she left before falling on the bed.

Sam was right. He had better accept the fact that he did like Phoenix, even though her cold demeanor annoyed the hell out him. She was a fantastic soldier.

He sighed again and closed his eyes. He had better work on his denial of the facts, he told himself before he found himself in too deep. The last time he had refused to accept the fact that he could actually be impressed by anyone – especially a girl he ended up falling for her and nearly violating his protocol. That Donovan kid – she got under his skin too – just like Phoenix.

John's eyes snapped open.

_Donovan_.

"FUCK!"


	10. Chapter 10

(A/n: Enyo this one is for you)

---

-10-

A scream filled his mind as his mind opened the door to a closed section of his past.

_She was screaming. John tried furiously to calm her as he clamped her wound. It was a wonder she was still alive. The bastard had ruined her face!_

"_Shhh…" He caught her small writhing body and tried his best to establish and IV line. She wouldn't stop struggling. _

"_Fuck!" He cursed as she scratched his face._

"_It's okay! It's okay! You're safe! I'm with the good guys, here sweetheart."_

_She wouldn't stop. He doubted if she could hear him._

_So he did the only thing he could. He grabbed her small body and held her close to him until she stopped struggling._

"_Shh…it's okay." He said as softly as he could, stroking her blood-matted hair "You're safe. I promise. It'll stay that way."_

_Slowly her struggling subsided into sobs…and her body went limp. She had fallen unconscious._

flash 

John didn't remember how he got to the corridors that led to the galley. He walked unseeing a thing in front of him. He didn't even feel the chill of the air – though he walked bare-chested.

Was it possible? Was it really her? After all these years?

flash 

_It was a sight that would horrify any man._

"_Goddamn it!" Buckley cursed, turning his eyes away from the scene. They all heard the sickle strike. _

_John watched helplessly as the girl fell to her knees in a pool of blood._

_If only they had managed to keep her with them…in the goddamn radiation room. He knew there was no point blaming themselves. She had taken them by surprise. They all closed their eyes as her screams filled their ears._

"_What do we do?" Lance whispered furiously. "We can't let them just mutilate her."_

_John watched as the bastard circled the girl like a vulture with a sadistic grin on his face. He grabbed her by the hair and hauled her writhing body to the experiment table. The profuse spurting of blood followed her as he yanked her up and slammed her face onto the table._

_Besides him Buckley nearly sprang out – Sgt. Finnigan grabbed him. "No, we'll risk killing her."_

"_You see your pretty face, little girl?" They heard his sick voice. He was forcing her to turn her head and look at her reflection on the table. "You bear my mark now."_

"_Sergeant, we can't just do _nothing_."_

"_The way I see it," John said, agreeing with Buckley. "She'll die, if we don't help her."_

"_She'll die faster if we get their attention, Private! You think I like being a sitting duck here?"_

"_She'll bleed to death, if we do nothing!" John hissed._

"_That might be a better death for her." Lance whispered, pointing to the horrid sight._

_They looked as the psychopath they had been sent to get, flung the girl to the other side of her room, her body ramming into instrument trolleys. A flurry of needles, scalpels fell toppled over and fell._

_Mackey Snakeeyes walked over to her and used his boots to flick her skirt over her waste as she limply tried to protect herself. _

"_Damn it, sir. He'll rape her in front of us and we do nothing?" It took all his energy not to scream at the sergeant._

"_You think I'm enjoying, this Private? I have a daughter that age!"_

_They didn't need to argue any further. A roar that came from Snakeeyes' throat alerted their attention. They saw the girl had jabbed a thick pointed object – right through his boot. Snakeeyez had doubled over, grabbing the lance that had him fixed to where he was. His cronies rushed to his side – one tried to get Donnovan's daughter as she struggled to scramble up – she flung a thick cylinder on his face and swaggered to her feet._

"_Fuck it! GET THE BITCH!"_

"_That girl just gave us our cue! MOVE IT!" The sergeant screamed his orders. John leapt out of his position – he ran for the girl firing a round of bullets into the swine that had just caught her._

_She fell back as the man fell dead. John caught her just in time as her flaccid body sank to hit the floor._

_She was as cold as ice._

_He heard the bullets, he even felt them whiz past him as the pandemonium ensued. He flung her over his shoulder and blew the head of another of Mackey's men. _

"_Reaper! Get her to safety!"_

_He didn't stick around to play hero. He flung a grenade at a blocked exit and ducked, shielding her from the flying shrapnel. He couldn't see through the smoke – nor did he have time to wear his infrared goggles. He just ran – guided by instinct – she lay like a rag doll over his shoulder. _

_Fuck! Was it even possible to be that cruel?_

Yes it was.

It had been longer than ten years, since he joined the marines, and he had seen cruelty to the worst accord.

John paused as he leaned against the walls. It was too much to take in.

He remembered everything about the Philadelphia mission. A distress call from an army funded private research facility had resulted in the dispatch. He was just Private in the search and rescue squad – six months before being inducted into RRTS.

Giligan Donovan, her father's name. Now he remembered it.

He was an Irish scientist; him and his wife had moved to America only a few years prior when and was working on bio-phasic translucence. Human invisibility. His research was extensively set up under their farm. It was private in name only. The project was protected by the army. Rogue corporations wanted his research – there had been two attempts to breach his lab.

Mackey Snakeeyes was an internationally wanted for drugs and human trafficking, civil war, weapons dealing, murder and rape. He was often employed as an assassin and bounty hunter – so to speak. The title seemed too sophisticated for a cold-blooded homicidal maniac. His modus operandi was simply enter-destroy-take.

Their team had landed to find the fields stained with blood – guards assigned to protect his family led a dead trail down to the facility.

Snakeeyes had killed her parents, her elder brother and younger sister.

John remembered every detail of that mission. It was first time he had been faced to the darkest side of humanity. He remembered the will of the fiery young girl that barely escaped with her life. He remembered how she fought against her body's weakness as fiercely as she fought the bastard who had permanently disfigured her face – any closer and he would have blinded her one eye.

The mission had gotten complicated – Mackey was as intelligent as he was ruthless and he had reduced their squad of 12 to a petty 3 people, including himself. He had survived because she had led him through the path around the woods to the abandoned mines, adjacent to their fields. The other two escaped – with parts of their body remaining behind. He and she were trapped in a maze. They were the mice and Mackey and his bastard gang of murders, the cats.

At the end of the ordeal, Reaper had blown Mackey's sick brain to pieces – a sight he regretted that she had to witness.

He remembered the mission down to every second and every emotion he had experienced in those two weeks. In those days she had become his comrade – despite the trauma and weakness, she had as much gotten him through that mission as much as he had saved her.

He also remembered the desire he felt – inexplicably – which he denied for too long a time, until it exploded within him. The internal fight he had put up with himself – for her sake, she was so young. _She's a child. She's a teenager for fuck's sake_. He had told himself.

He never trusted himself after that. He kept his emotions closely guarded and never let any girl get to him – Donovan's daughter – child, as she was, she had been enough.

Was it possible? He asked himself when he found himself in the galley. Poet and the o'Rileys were cracking up on some joke. Phoenix gave a bleak smile and stood up, turning around to fill her plate with the canned shit they ate. Her eyes met his briefly before she turned.

Was it possible this cold marine; was the same fierce soul whom he had met so many years ago?

It couldn't be. She didn't look remotely like his little friend, but he wasn't one to judge. He had only seen half of her face in the entire mission. When her bandage was removed it was one swollen, bloody side. He couldn't compare the steely grey eyes he saw now to the soft grey eyes he had seen then.

But that scar was in place of the exact wound…

It could not be – he told himself as he drifted into the galley. She did not have that innocence - that fire. He could never imagine that fire dying out from the soul. But was it really possible for her years since to draw out the fire from her eyes?

_ flash _

"_Am I alive?..."_

"_Yep! You're a real fighter!"_

"_I thought I died…"_

"_You sound disappointed…"_

_One grey swollen eye met his own. He knew what she wanted to say. She didn't have much to live for. Not after this._

"_Maybe I did die." She whispered._

"_Maybe you did…guess you rose up from the ashes. Like a phoenix."_

_ flash _

"What's up, Reaper?" He heard Poet say. "Couldn't sleep?"

He shook his head, half-conscious of what they were talking about and slowly walked around the table to get a beer. He kept his eyes fixed on her body. She wore the same tank top, her back was too him as she cut open a can. On the back of her right shoulder, he saw her tattoo.

flash 

"_Let's pretend you're a marine…we gotta give you an ID?"_

"_I'm not a child, ye know. Ye don't have to cajole me."_

"_Do what?"_

"_Cajole! Oi! Didn't ya learn any ainglish?"_

"_Na-ah. Not much. I grew up on Mars."_

"_Yer lyin'."_

"_No I'm not. Stop stalling…let's give you a nickname."_

"_Ye gotta give me a tattoo, too."_

"_A tattoo?"_

"_Yeah – all ov' dem soldiers have it, right?"_

_He laughed. "Most of us do, yeah. Okay…where'd you want it?"_

_She shrugged. _

_He took the marker in his pocket and pulled her closer. The easiest point of access was her right shoulder._

"_I want that bird you told me about…phoenix"_

"_Okay."_

_She giggled as he doodled on her shoulder._

"_I wanna see!"_

"_Hold on, I'll give you a reflector – there! See that?"_

"_That's no phoenix! Looks like one ov' me uncle's chickens!"_

flash 

He smiled to himself. Looks like she got a proper artist to give her a proper tattoo. He couldn't have thought of a more appropriate one himself.

If it was her.

If it wasn't – then the eyes, the scar – Phoenix. Her knowledge of Homer and twentieth-century classics. One too many coincidences.

"Man!" said Gryffin, said to him. "Aren't you feeling cold?" Quinn turned around, once again – not looking at him, she set the can for Gryffin.

She went to the side where her gun lay and nodded her head towards the door.

"Get some sleep Phoenix!" Gryffin ordered affectionately. "You need it."

_No_, John thought, _she couldn't be_. This one barely opened her mouth. The girl he knew couldn't keep her mouth shut.

…_I only talk when I need to… _

Her words echoed in his head.

Maybe she was right. She had needed to talk, then. So had he – at the time. He had opened up to her as much as she had opened up to him. Was that why she was always so protective of his sister? Because of what he had told her about Sam, then? Or was it just women-bonding?

John did not say a word as he watched the interaction between Gryffin and Phoenix. Gryffin talked with his mouth, Phoneix by her actions and eyes. He was aware that she knew he had his eyes fixed on her. He was also aware that Poet was looking at him curiously.

"Reaper."

John turned his head to Poet.

"Stop staring at her, or I'll kill you." Poet said, coolly. John knew he meant every word.

Phoenix gave him one look – a brief frown and then turned around to head outside.

"I think you pissed her off." Gryffin said.

John kept staring after her retreating form. He heard Poet say. "What is your problem, man? Is there something on her shift you can't stop staring at?"

John got up. "Sorry guys, gotta go, I just remembered something." He said, hastily and started after her.

Did she avoid him so much because she knew him? Why wouldn't she tell him? The girl he knew would have surely told him.

But after so many years, would she still be the girl he knew?

The girl he knew wasn't Kelly Quinn.

"_Kaellen…Interesting name?"_

"_Tah – in Irish it means… 'mighty warrior'."_

She was just about to turn towards the corridor that led to the airlock when he spoke – softly, not soft enough for a whisper, but loud enough only for her to hear the name. Not Kelly – not even Kaellen – but the name only he called her.

"Kaela."

She froze.

John closed his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

-11-

Her heart had missed a beat for a second. She swallowed.

She knew he was behind her but she didn't turn.

_You didn't hear it_, she told herself.

But she knew she did. She knew he had said it.

She took a deep breath and without turning around she put an unsure step forward. When she was sure she wouldn't fall, she began to walk determinedly towards the airlock.

She felt his presence coming closer more than she heard his footsteps. She wanted to walk faster, but decided that she shouldn't. If she ran – she would risk breaking down in front of him. She couldn't afford that.

He came up close behind her and kept a hand on her right shoulder making her stomach flip. She had to stop. She couldn't run away from his touch.

His fingers trailed down from the arch of her shoulder to the back. She wondered if she imagined feeling his fingers burning a trace around her tattoo. She closed her eyes. She had to control herself.

"What do you want?" she said – her voice choked in her throat.

He clasped the same shoulder and turned her around.

She couldn't look at him – looking at him especially now that he knew; it would mean all the pain and memories of her childhood – all the lonely years she spent wondering if he thought of her – all the grief she felt in getting over her family's loss – all these feelings would flood her again.

Her eyes were tightly shut when she turned around.

"It is you." He whispered.

No. She shook her head.

His thumb ran down her forehead – down the scar of a life long lost. She felt as though he had trailed a line of fire down it.

Her eyes snapped open and she flinched back – breaking contact with his fingers and her skin.

"How dare you?" she said, coldly.

How dared he! He had left her after his mission – she never admitted it to herself but she had felt the resentment boiling over her now. He was her only friend after her family was so brutally taken away from her. He had left her in the hospital and she never saw him again.

He had purposely kept her out of his life.

She had no right, to think this way, she told herself. He was a marine. He did his job. He did more than his job – he had saved her beyond all hope. She could not possibly expect him to return to a fourteen-year old. She could not possibly think that the things he told her made her his automatic confidante. She could not possibly expect him to honour the promise of friendship he had made to her when he held her hand in the hospital bed as he wished her goodbye.

She could not expect him to be her guardian for life.

That she had wanted all this then – she attributed it to the naïveté of her age. She was older now – it was time to grow up.

"_I'm sorry_." It was a low whisper that sifted through her mind. They were his words.

That snapped something inside of her.

She felt a feeling come up to her throat and wondered if it was bile, or the tide of emotions that she was sure she couldn't control.

She sobbed and for once she was sure her shield of titanium fell apart. She saw something in his brown eyes – his expression was pained – it was pitiful.

What was he sorry for? For leaving her? – No, that was part of his job. For all the years gone by? He couldn't be.

What was he sorry for?

Her?

She wouldn't have it.

Pity – she simply would not stand for.

She gave an indignant gasp and whirled around and walked towards the airlock.

He caught her hand, this time, before she could get away. She moved instinctively to deflect him, but he blocked her actions and pushed her towards the wall.

She winced as her head hit it. "Fuck! I'm sorry." He said. She knew this time it was because of her head.

She struggled to get out of his grasp, but he kept his hand firmly fixed on her arm.

"It's okay." She replied, in a desperate attempt to let loose. She didn't want to do what her body – trained for combat – told her. She didn't want to knee him – or flip him, or aim the gun at him. She just wanted him to stop touching her.

"Let me go."

"Not so fast."

"Let me go, or I'll make you." Her eyes met his. "And believe me, I can."

He caught her other shoulder, pinning her to the wall and said, "Just give me a minute."

She stopped struggling and waited. He relaxed his grip a little and sighed. She wet her lips waiting.

"You're minute's up." She said when she felt his grip relax totally.

Her ploy worked. He was startled when she pushed him away and walked briskly away. He caught up with her again, just as she had entered the airlock – this time he didn't apologize when he pushed her against its walls. "Would you just stay still for a minute?"

"Goddamn it!" She spat. She rarely showed frustration – to anyone. She wasn't about to start showing it to him. He tightly turned the lever shut, with his other hand. She swiftly swung her knee up – he was smarter. He blocked it – using his knees he flattened her legs against the walls invading way into her personal space.

This was something she wasn't prepared to handle.

"Damn it, Reaper!" She hissed – she shut her eyes and turned her face away. She felt her chest rising against his as he pushed himself against her to stop struggling. He was breathing heavily too.

"Let me go." She said – her eyes were still closed.

"Why the fuck won't you look at me?"

"Why the fuck should I?"

"Goddamn it Kaela!"

Her eyes flew open. "Don't you bloody dare call me that!" She said, loudly. She tried to push him away but he pressed closer.

"Why not? It's your name, isn't it?"

"No."

"No? Then what is it? Kelly? _Phoenix_?"

"Get off me or I swear I'll kill you."

She gripped his shoulder and tried her level best to shove him – if only she could have some leg space.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened to me. Get off me you bloody prat!"

"Come on, Kaela, I don't want to be doing this!"

"Go to hell, Reaper!"

"I just want to –"

"Want to _what_?" She stopped struggling and stared at him. Her voice had risen to a level she normally didn't use. A level where her voice actually sounded like her own.

"Want to _what_? _John_? Talk? Apologize? Do what? Catch up? Ask me why I'm here?"

John hesitated. She shook her head. Even _he_ didn't know.

"Look," she said, looking away. She hated his goddamn eyes. "There's nothing for you to _want_ to do. That's that."

"Why'd you change your name?"

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"_Please_."

She looked back at him. Why did he have to say that? Why couldn't he force her? It would be so much easier to fight him.

"Look," he said, she felt his knees relax against her legs, "I know I don't have any right…"

"You're bloody right." She intervened.

"…but…I."

She couldn't hear it. Whatever reason he had that made him look almost…guilty. She couldn't stand that. That was what had weakened her ten years ago – that would weaken her now. His pity was easier to handle – if he pitied her, she could resent it and block it. If he looked like that – as though he felt her pain, as though he knew what she had felt – as though he could see into her mind – she wouldn't survive this mission.

"I didn't." She said, quickly. "Quinn is my mother's maiden name. I didn't feel like being called Kaellen any more."

"I guess – I understand."

"Do you?"

He gave her a smile of sincere regret. "No, I don't. I'm sorry."

"Are we done?"

"Why here?"

"What?"

"Why this…the Rangers, the marines?"

"It's a free country."

"It's not…" He broke off.

"Not what?"

"Nothing."

She left it at that.

"Kelly, huh?"

"Kelly is what everyone called me, anyway."

"That's not what I called you." He said, softly.

She swore under her breath and slammed her head against the wall, herself.

He moved away from her, immediately. "I'm sorry." He said. "That was out of line."

"Damn right it was."

Suddenly, the lever of the airlock, opposite them, wheeled open. Genghis and Sandman walked in. She found herself frozen where she was. She knew there was no point trying to recover a straight face. She felt so hot her cheeks, she was sure they were flushed. Both men were startled to find them there and moreover she was sure they were taken aback by the look on her face and the fact that she stood with her back glued to the door of the airlock and John stood – his body inches away from hers.

And he was shirtless.

"What the fuck is going on?" Genghis said; there was uncertainty in his voice.

A noisy creak behind her made her jump. She sprang away as the door behind her opened and Poet and the o'Rileys came in. They too seemed startled by the curious situation.

"You okay, Phoenix?" Poet said, looking suspiciously at John.

She took in a deep breath and said, "Yes, I'm fine."

She knew from the look on her faces they didn't believe her. After all, she didn't just nod, as she normally would – but she spoke. She spoke in her normal tone – not the fake low-pitched icy volume she preferred to keep.

"Really, it's nothing." She said, again, nervously, looking at their faces. Nervousness was an unusual thing for her – one she could see, they noticed.

She collected herself and readjusted her gun, she testily moved away from John, avoiding any contact with him. He stepped away, giving her space to move. She went to the door Genghis had just emerged from.

"Where are you going?" Poet said, just as she had exited.

"To bed." She said, swallowing the sob that emerged before she spoke.

"Oh."

She exhaled with relief as she hurriedly made her way to the bunkers.

John watched her go, letting a sob escape.

"What were you two doing here?" Genghis said, finally.

"Nothing." John said. Genghis had an accusatory tone, which John didn't care much for.

Genghis came up to him and said in a low determined voice, "Phoenix is off limits to you."

"What are you her bodyguard?"

"Don't get cute, Reaper!"

"If we were doing something wouldn't you have known?"

"Like hell!" Poet muttered.

"A – She can take care of herself." John said. "B – We were just talking."

"Phoenix doesn't just _talk_." Genghis growled. The rest of the men nodded. "And what the _fuck_ were you _just talking_ about, anyway?"

"Appreciate your concern for her and all. But it's none of your business." John turned around, made his way for the bunker. He couldn't help smiling. Who would've thought that Genghis off all the people would play big brother to her?

A frown, replaced his smile. That was of course, if he was being a brother and nothing more.

---

"So what's the thing between Genghis and you?"

"What?"

What the hell was he up to? She thought furiously working her fingers on the Ark computers. He had come early in the morning, looking strangely chirpier than he normally did, with a cup of coffee which she refused until he irritated her into taking it. She was trying to decode it so they could ensure that there would be no more surprises in a furious attempt to get her frustration out – under the pretence of helping Poet. It was just her luck that she had been alone.

She hated it when he forced her to speak. She didn't like talking. In fact she had succeeded in being silent until he asked her that ridiculous question.

"I mean – are you two –"

She wheeled around in her chair and snapped. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Like what?" He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Well, you're our field consultant, aren't you?" She said, condescendingly. "Go get consulted, or something." She shook her head in indignation and continued to work.

"Woah!" He said, sarcastically, "I guess you do have a tongue."

She punched in a few commands angrily and then swore. She shook her irritation off. She would not allow him to pry into her life.

"What are you so angry at me for, anyway?" He said, coming closer to her.

"I'm not angry at you."

"No?"

"No."

"Then why aren't you talking to me?"

"I'm not talking to you simply because I choose not to."

"Oh. It's a choice thing, eh?"

"Yes."

"Good."

She took in a deep breath and let it out and continued her work.

"So –"

She ignored him.

"So," he said, "I guess you choose not to tell me about you and Genghis."

She wanted to scream saying 'there's nothing to tell' but she knew she'd give him the satisfaction of whatever he was trying to pull.

"I guess not." He muttered, more to himself.

There was some silence which was entirely pointless because she was senselessly trying commands she had already tried. She couldn't concentrate with him around.

"So I guess, since we're working on the choice thing…" He said. She paused her work for a second waiting for him to complete.

"…I guess I could make a couple of choices, too."

She slowly began fiddling with the console, hearing every word he said.

"I mean," He said, "I could choose to call you Kaela, right?"

Angrily she pushed her chair away from the console, flinging the disks onto it. They bounced of it and landed in a clutter. She got up and nearly shouted. "You think this is a goddamn, joke isn't it, you wanker!"

He raised his eyebrows, leaning against the table near her with a smug expression on his face.

She exhaled heavily and folded her arms. "Fine, call me that. Then you might as well tell these guys everything. My parents, my brother and sister…fuck!" She gave a mock look of excitement. "Tell them how you saved me from death! Why don't you? I guess then you men can sit and compare notes as to what's the best way to save people, huh?"

His face paled.

"Kaela, I –"

"Arrgh!" She turned away, ready to stomp outside.

"Sorry!" He caught her wrist as she swung about. "Quinn! Phoenix! Kelly! Whatever! Okay! Look – I'm being an insensitive jerk."

"An insensitve jerk?" She turned back to him "That's an understatement!"

"I know!" he said, pulling her to him. She had no idea why she actually allowed him to even touch her. She pulled her hand out of his grasp. He retracted his hand, keeping his palm in a show of defence.

"I'm really sorry. Okay? I'll stop bothering you. I was just trying –"

"Trying to do _what_?"

"I don't know."

"What the hell do you want from me?"

"I don't know."

"I don't want to tell you anything." She sobbed. "You have no right..."

"I know."

She swallowed, staring at his bent head. Then she turned around towards the fallen disks, and sank to retrieve them.

"It's just that –" he said. "I can't stand to see it."

"See what?" she said, still on her haunches.

"This ice queen thing you have…Kael – Phoenix. It's just…"

"I'm not the only one whose become tougher, John. Besides, what does it matter, now?"

"I guess, it doesn't. I know – I, of all should know it. I mean…I've seen…" he broke off.

She cursed herself for doing it, but she turned around, feeling sympathy for him. She had felt the same seeing his tired, unfeeling face when she first met him. She picked up the disks and resumed her work

"Phoenix, I promised you that I'd always be your friend."

She said nothing.

"I…I couldn't…"

"You're a soldier, Reaper," She said. "And you were a good one then, just as you are now. You don't have to explain."

"For what it's worth – I actually meant it."

She sighed. "I believe you."

"It's not an easy…"

"I know." She cut him off. "You don't have to explain."

She knew it in her head – but her heart still felt the pain.

"Can I just ask you one question, though?"

She turned around and gave him a look. "Is it about Genghis or anyone else?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No."

She nodded.

"Why the military?"

She smiled – a little wider than she wanted to smile. It was a genuine smile. "What can I say? I guess you made an impression on me."

---

"Phoenix?"

"Hmm…?"

Poet looked up from what he was doing and frowned. Getting an unnecessary acknowledgement from her was not usual. "I'm sorry I've been rude to you and stuff."

"You've never apologized before." She said, meeting his eyes.

"You've never talked so much before, either."

Phoenix stopped playing with the commands and looked at him.

Poet looked back at the panels of the core. "What's the thing between you and Reaper? Do you two know each other or something?"

She didn't answer. Poet looked at her and said, "Don't lie…you know I can see right through you."

She nodded.

"So, you two know each other?"

She nodded.

"What was he, like an ex-boyfriend?"

She sneered sarcastically. "He saved my life – a long time ago. I was just a kid." She directed her head to the computer and resumed her work..

Now that Poet didn't expect. "Oh?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

Poet didn't answer.

"I don't need optimers to see your feelings, Poet. You don't trust him. What's on your mind?"

"He's not like the rest of us, Phoenix."

"Well, I don't think he came willingly so –"

"No, Phoenix." Poet cut her off. He stood up and stepped over a residual pool of monster blood as he went towards the control panel and opened it up. "He's not like _us_ as in humans."

"Why do you say that?"

"You believe what they said about him? That he was exposed to some alien DNA?"

She shrugged.

"He doesn't get hurt, like the rest of us."

She nodded.

"It's just that, when those things came out of the ark – I saw Reaper's emotions as he was killing them."

"And?"

"And, primal feelings, like hate – destruction…they take on a particular colour in humans…you all had that colour surrounding you. Reaper didn't."

"Well, if he's exposed to alien DNA, I don't think his neurotransmitters function like ours, Poet."

"Yeah, but you don't get it. His colour and the colour around those things…?"

She nodded for him to continue.

"Well, it was the same colour, Phoenix."

----

(A/n: PLEASE Please PLEASE Review! I just had writers block about how to go ahead from here. Reviews help, trust me!)


	12. Chapter 12

-12-

"Kaellen Quinn-Donovan."

The words were a whisper into the dark emptiness of a silent ark.

"My name is Kaellen."

…_Interesting name…_

…_Tah'! It means mighty warrior in Gaelic…_

…_Mighty warrior?..._

…_Tah', e'er'one at me Kelly. I s'ppose its easier…_

Phoenix was sprawled on the fancy chair with her feet up on the console. She chuckled to herself. "My name _was_ Kaellen."

_...I think Kaellen's a beautiful name…_

…_Why'd your parents name you Reaper?..._

_He laughed…they didn't. That's what they call me in the marines…_

…_why?..._

…_Grim Reaper?..._

…_Oh. John Grimm. I get it…_

"John Grimm," she whispered. "I don't get it."

A tear rolled down from the corner of her left eye down to her cheek. "After all these years…I don't."

----

"How old was she?"

"Fourteen, I think…maybe fifteen."

"She was young."

"It was amazing she survived, then, Sam. She lost a lot of blood."

"What about her father's research?"

"I don't know what happened to it."

"No other surviving family?"

"No, she had an uncle. We were basically trying to get to him. She knew the way through the woods. I'm glad she forced me to take her through that path – I'd have probably ended up dead like the rest of the team, if we didn't."

"I'm glad she did too, John. I don't understand. How could you just _forget_ her?"

"I didn't. I just kept her locked into my mind and threw away the key."

"Like you did for Mars?"

"It's not the same."

"I know you too well, John. This is what you do. Something must have affected you deeply about your mission to have shut it out!"

"I was just a year into the marines, Sam. You can't expect me to have seen what I've seen and be all happy and cool about it."

"And you can't expect her to be the same either, John. We lost our parents to an accident; she lost hers to a madman. We had each other; they killed her siblings. In front of her eyes."

"I never said I expected her to be the same – I just said, she's changed a lot. I'm sure I didn't help."

"What do you mean? You only told me she wanted to be a marine because of you! You must have given her something to depend on."

"I promised her, Sam." John said, sighing. "I promised her I would keep in touch with her. I didn't. I mean, I guess to some extent I was all she had back then."

"She doesn't blame you for that, does she?"

"No…at least, I don't think she does. It's just that…"

"Just what, John?"

"I don't know!"

He did know. _It was on purpose. I was getting too involved._

---

She was back to her ice queen routine again.

John watched her intently as she went about explaining some rot about electromagnetic fields. She kept her eyes cold and distant, if she met his eyes, all he saw was a wall; but he could tell she was uncomfortable, because she avoided meeting his eyes as less often as possible.

"Two days!" he heard Hobbit mutter. "Two goddamn days and we're still stuck here."

"Son, you are free to leave if you fucking want it!" Genghis barked at him, when he heard. "But I'll be damned if you leave without a fucking court marshal, if you, for saying that."

"You think you're the only one who's tired here, Hobbit?"

"Sir, I was just…"

"You're the only one who wants to go home, is it?"

"No sir, I do not."

"You have a girlfriend waiting for you, son?"

"Er…sir…"

"Answer the question!"

"Yes sir, but I…"

"Well Smith's got a little girl and Sandman's got a fine-assed wife. I suppose you don't think that's important, do you?"

"Sir, I…"

"Oh yes, I'm sure you think," Genghis said, sarcastically, "'Sarge's a half-assed prick, who doesn't have any family, I'm sure it doesn't matter to him that we are rotting out here like a bunch of…'"

"Stop badgering him, Sarge." Gamgee cut in. "He's only thinking what we all are."

"GAMGEE, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU THAT YOU DO NOT INTERRUPT YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER WHEN HIS MOUTH IS OPEN!"

"What the fuck Sarge! He's right!" Gryffin spoke up.

"You're out of line, soldier."

"You're the one out of line, Genghis!" Gryffin jumped up.

"You wanna repeat that?" Genghis stepped forward.

"I said," Gryffin said, coolly, taking a step forwards himself. "_You_ are the one who is _fucking _out of line, _sir!_"

Genghis took two steps forwards and swung a right hook at Gryffin. Gryffin fell backwards and toppled over a table.

"GODDAMN YOU!" Gamgee lost it and charged at Genghis. Genghis was pushed back towards the wall as the two engaged in a boxing fight. Gryffin as soon as he recovered sprang onto Genghis and it became a two against one match.

"STOP!" Sam cried. The others sprang up to separate them, but it was a task keeping two huge men apart. John did not interfere; he just sat back and watched the scene.

"John!" Sam cried.

He shrugged. "It's their own goddamn problem."

"It's not going to help us get this over with, ohn."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Stop them, somehow!"

Finally, Phoenix who was the smallest managed to wrench her way between the two pugilists, keeping her back pressed against Genghis to keep him from lunging at the brothers. Bazooka held Genghis by his elbows. The others kept the struggling brothers in check.

"Motherfuckers, both of you!"

"Goddamn tyrant!"

"Bastard!"

The swearwords flowed freely as the three men were contained by their colleagues as though they were raging bulls behind a fence.

"ENOUGH!" Bazooka hollered. It was no good.

"Stop it, you three!" Phoenix said.

"What are you tellin' us for? He's the one barking senseless orders. Stupid egotistical prick!" Gamgee yelled.

"You don't like my orders, you get off the team!"

"Why should we? You'r the one with the stick up his ass!"

"You little cunt-sucker, I outta blow your brains of for insurrection!"

"If you call this insurrection, wait till we actually skin you alive!"

John had had enough. He gave a huge sigh and then gave a bored sneer and said, "Are the three of you done blowing off steam? Or do you need a little more game time?"

All heads were in his direction, there were similar expressions of annoyance and surprise.

"Don't look so surprised!" He drawled. "If your not done get one with it, 'coz this ain't TV and I can't change the channel!"

"You think this is some sort of joke, Reaper?" Genghis barked.

John sighed and said, "Well it must be, _because_ I'm wondering why you three are fighting?"

"You're crazy, aren't you?" Poet said, suddenly.

"Well I must be, Poet," John said in a mock sing-song tone. "I mean, I am the one who wanted to get my ass dragged down here, a long way from decent food, good drinks and fine pieces off ass to spend my waking minutes in a godforsaken abandoned science project, with a whole lotta Martian demons up my ass…" His tone voice elevated to a shout as he stood up. "WITH A GROUP OF BICKERING SOLDIERS!"

Everyone fell silent.

"Looks men, this is not a training mission. This is the real thing. UAC does not give a fuck about your guys and if they're hiding something, they won't shed a tear if anything happens to us in this mission, so it's important that we all STICK. TOGETHER!"

He glared at Genghis and said. "And that specially applies to _you_ as the CO, Genghis."

Genghis returned his burning gaze, John expected him to confront him but he didn't. Him and the brothers stopped struggling. When the others were confident they let them go. John observed that Phoenix had her hand on Genghis' shoulder in a comforting way. Genghis patted hand, as if to let her know he'd be fine. She nodded and went back to her position in front of the main screen.

"Stay cool man," Hobbit said to Gamgee who swatted his head. Hobbit yelped and whined. "What was that for?"

"This is your fault, dipshit!"

"How's it my-"

"Hobbit!" Poet snapped. "I think its best you shut up now."

Hobbit mumbled a 'Sorry' and nodded.

The tension was tangible in the room for a few minutes until Phoenix started talking again.

John kept his eyes on her cold face as she talked, not hearing one word but wondering only one thing. Why did her relationship with Genghis make so much of an impression on him? Was it only curiosity?

----

"So, you gotta boyfriend or something?"

Phoenix frowned and looked at Sam as she packed her kit. Three of them were going to the surface to search for anything that might lead them to the source of the field.

"Look," Sam said, realizing she had annoyed her. "I'm not prying or anything…I just asked."

Phoenix gave her an unaffected expression.

"Okay." Sam said, giving up. "You're not one to talk, I get that. Sorry, I'll just shut up and go do my thing."

Sam turned around with the immense desire to drown herself in a formalin jar when Phoenix suddenly made her stop. "No," she said

Sam turned around, surprised the girl had actually spoken. Sam smiled at her nervously and then said, "I was just…making conversation I guess…I didn't want to…"

Phoenix nodded cutting her off. She put on her gloves and was about to pull the bag of the desk when Sam unable to find a way to unobtrusively bring up the topic, suddenly burst out. "I – John told me."

Phoenix kept the bag on the table and then looked at her curiously.

Embarrassed, Sam came forward and said, "I- I- mean…he told me, how you two know each other."

Sam couldn't even begin to imagine what Phoenix was thinking when she just stared at her. Sam assumed the worst and then decided to make this as fast as possible. She nervously started wringing her hands and fumbled as she spoke hurriedly. "I mean, I don't want you thinking that he blurted your personal thing or anything, it's just that…there's really little he can hide from me. I mean, we're twins. I….I…I can't hide anything from him. I mean…there was this time I didn't want to tell him I was dating the Principal of the school I work in, so I hid it from him. He's against the whole fraternizing at work thing and the Devlin's was so sweet and I couldn't say no…so I just went out with him, but I couldn't tell John! But I was feeling so awful! So awful!" She shook her head. "Eventually one evening I just burst into his apartment and came out with the whole thing!" She broke off to breathe and found that Phoenix had a peculiar expression on her face.

"I'm rambling, aren't I?" She said, sheepishly. "Anyway, the point is we can't hide anything from each other…so…John didn't purposely mean to tell me."

Phoenix looked down and then gave her an amused sneer and said, "So was he okay with it?"

Sam frowned. "With what?"

"You and the Principal. Was he okay with it?"

"Oh!" Sam snorted nervously. She chuckled, feeling some tension dissipate. "Oh yeah! He was cool! I think he figured out I was pretty worked up over it. So…besides I mean, I don't think he could really argue. I'm not really getting any younger and I guess Devlin's the best bet around so…" At Phoenix's seemingly disapproving expression she corrected herself. "…No! I mean, Devlin's a great guy! You won't get him in a million years! But I…I meant…"

Phoenix gave her an amused nod of understanding.

Sam took a deep breath and said, "I…what I wanted to say was…actually I wanted to say this before I found out about your past…"

Phoenix raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Sam shrugged. "That was my brother whose ass you covered out there. It means…I mean, your history apart, I'm really grateful."

Phoenix nodded, urging her to go on.

"I…I wanted you to know, how…how sorry I was, about your…past. Your loss?"

Phoenix's expression became colder. Sam went on. "We lost our parents as kids too…it hurt John more than me. I mean, he was good student you know. He'd have been the best…like our Dad. So, although, I can't imagine what it's like for you, but I guess what I wanted to say is, I understand a little bit. I'm not patronizing you or anything, oh crap! I'm ruining this, aren't I?"

Phoenix did something Sam wouldn't expect in a million years. She gave her an understanding smile. Sam couldn't believe the wonders that smile did to her oval face; it made her look totally different.

The redhead suspended the kit in her hand and finally said, "I understand. Thank you."

Sam nodded. Phoenix turned slightly and then stopped and looked at Sam. "I know this probably doesn't seem important now, but…back then. In Philadelphia?"

Sam nodded for her to continue.

"He told me about you," Phoenix said. "He missed you terribly. Like, being apart from half of your soul – those were the words he used."

Sam smiled.

"I suppose it must be the case with all siblings, but with John…I suppose it's a deeper bond with twins." Phoenix said. "You were very important to him, not that you're any less important now, but back then – things were different."

Sam nodded. "We didn't get along so well."

"Yes," Phoenix said, "he told me." She shrugged. "I best get on."

Phoenix turned to leave and then Sam stopped her again. "Phoenix?" Phoenix turned around.

Sam debated on whether to say it or not but then she finally went ahead. "John doesn't open up about his past to just anyone, you know."

Phoenix frowned.

Sam knew she was pushing her luck but she continued. "He's very reserved about what he lets on about himself. More so then than now."

Phoenix's expression was unreadable.

Sam sighed and then said, "He always keeps his promises, Phoenix. If he hasn't then there must be some very, very good reason."

After a long silence, Phoenix said, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because he never forgot you."

-------

(A/N: Short and sweet update. Please review or the chaps will get shorter!)


	13. Chapter 13

John pursed his lips as he reached into the abdominal cavity of the pinky demon and searched for the liver. "You think they're human?" He said, looking past Gamgee who was dissecting another type of demon at Sam who was working on the bird. He could barely see her head over the creatures hammer shaped skull. It was so huge they had used a conveyor to bring it. Its wings were frozen in rigor mortis and bent against the ceiling.

"What are you saying?" Gamgee said, putting on shielding goggles as he started up the bone saw. "Do they look human to you?"

"No, what I mean is…" John started to say and then broke off as he reached for the torch to see well.

Genghis had stationed him to help Sam. John suspected it had more to do with keeping him away from Phoenix rather than his knowledge of what they were dealing with.

"Well, there's one thing I can tell you for sure." Sam said, grunting as she wrenched apart the bird's skull. "The only think I can tell you about it is that it is a partially carbon based life form."

"What about the other part?" John said as he moved over to the crash cart to get a saw.

"Silicon?"

"Yes, it's DNA has silicon embedded into the scaffolding chains."

"You don't seem so surprised, about that?" John observed.

"I'm not. It's obvious this creature isn't from earth, and we found fossils of something similar to what this might be if it were buried under Martian rock for so many trillions of years. It seemed to be silicon based too. We just didn't get a chance to analyse it because of the humanoid remains we found immediately afterwards."

"So how could these things have survived?" John went up to her.

"I don't know. But that's not the only thing that's bothering us." Sam said as she went towards the computer and pulled up its genetic profile.

John frowned as Gamgee came up beside him and said, "We pulled up a very similar profile for an organism on earth – if you replace carbon instead of silicon in it's structure you'll find a near ninety percent match."

"What kind of organism?"

"The Vulture family," Gamgee said.

"Vultures?"

"Yes, and you know what makes it creepier?"

"What?"

"The Andean Condor is a hundred percent match."

---

"Curiouser and Curiouser." Gryffin said; John detected the sarcasm in his voice.

"That's not even correct usage, Sarge," Sandman mumbled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Smith said.

"He's not joking." Sam said, giving him a comparative profile. "The silicon is the only difference in their structures – otherwise the shape of the helix, the base-pairs, even right up to chromosomal arrangement you'll find them to be a close match."

"Wait a minute," Genghis said. "You said the condor we found in the sewers wasn't Californian right? It was an Andean condor."

"Yes. We analysed it again, after we discovered this, there seemed to be no mutation."

"So what was it doing here? In the sewer? Keeping that demon company?"

"We don't know – obviously someone brought it to the base."

"Possibly to test it with this thing?"

"Wait a minute…!" Gryffin said, "Let's just back up here one second. This creature was supposed to exist a million years ago, right, it's the Martian equivalent of a dinosaur?"

Sam and John nodded.

"So how could this thing survive?"

"We don't know. From what we've inferred from its anatomy," Sam said, nodding at Gamgee who pulled up a schematic drawing of the creature's skull. "It's retina and occipital cortex indicate that it is a daytime predator and not a nocturnal one. It's vision is twice sharper than an eagle's – analysis of it's voice box and lungs…"

"Dr. Grimm, spare us the technical details and tell me what I'm dealing with here?"

"What I can tell you is that it's carnivorous, it can breathe even in the nitrogen rich environment of surface, it's skin is so tough that it can tolerate IR and UV radiations beyond the white light spectrum, it's vocal abilities are developed enough for inter personal communication."

"It can talk?"

"To a creature similar to it, yes."

"So there's a chance there are more of these?"

"Communication is a valuable asset for survival as a group – so yes."

"There's something else," John said. "According to what we could process from its DNA – this creature has some amount of recombinant DNA."

"Translate."

"Ten percent of this specific creature's DNA seems to belong to the Andean condor. Gryffin's question can possibly be answered by the fact that someone messed with the genetic material of the bird and must have reconstructed it."

"What does that mean?"

"It means either this is a Martian vulture turned Earthling condor or…" Gamgee said.

"Vice versa." Genghis said, in a sigh of realization. "So ultimately, _what_ can we be sure of?"

John said, "UAC or _someone_'s been experimenting out here, Genghis, if anything I'm sure of that."

"And it's probable that that 'someone' either's dead or must be that demon we killed down there." Genghis nodded. "I don't think any alien would come down here and experiment with our equipment and we wouldn't know about it. So let's assume it was one UAC or the government people." He turned to Gryffin and said, "Gryffin, pull up a list of all expeditions and assignments on Mars, if there were any in the last one year."

"But, all…" Sam began to speak.

"Acitvities to Mars were restricted, yes, I know." Gamgee nodded. "UAC pretty much controlled all the archaeological research on Mars, but I know for sure there were private trips to Mars, after the ark quarantine was lifted, from private organizations, mostly international ones."

"Which was less than six months ago." Sam said, nodding. "The last one was from the Ark built in French Polynesia."

"Exactly, I mean, America isn't the only country with a claim on Mars."

"But it's a long shot," Sam said, "for someone to experiment here if they were…"

"You forget," Bazooka, cut in. "It's possible this could be a terrorist infiltration, which makes this operation a code red."

"So basically," Genghis said, "we have no contact with HQ, few answers and too small a team."

He stood up and sighed, rubbing his face. "I think it's safe to declare this operation as autonomous. We are no longer going to operate within standard protocols."

John frowned.

Everyone else nodded, except for him and Sam who didn't understand the meaning of what Genghis said.

"Okay," Genghis said. "Reaper and I are going to the arsenal to gather more weapons and ammo, Gryffin update the surface team of our status. Dr. Grimm, you and Gamgee, as of now are going to keep working on those things. Bazooka's going with you to keep you safe. Smith, I'm authorizing you to access the facility's research material – anything that can help you secure communication, you use it."

Smith nodded, John could see that he seemed to be relieved to hear those words.

"No one, goes anywhere alone, Sandman, eyes on the sewer entrances. HQ is likely to send another team within the next twenty-four hours. If they don't, then _I'm_ giving this mission the next forty-eight hours, to be resolved, if not, we're packing up and hiking to the nearest city."

They all nodded.

Genghis dismissed them and then picked up his weapon and motioned for John to follow him.

"Going down that line of operation might be dangerous for you, Genghis." John said, cautiously. "Two days without contact is hardly within codes standard parameters of declaring an operation as autonomous."

"Let's get one thing straight, Reaper," Genghis said, curtly as they turned towards the airlock for the Arsenal, "I'm not a puppet of either the government or UAC. Unlike your previous sergeant, the lives of my men are more important to me."

John frowned. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing…_yet_."

John stopped Genghis, just before the entered the armoury. "If you're trying to say, you don't trust me, Genghis, you might as well just say it, don't dance around."

"I don't trust anyone, Reaper." Genghis met his eye. "All I'm saying is, you're being here, that alien invasion we just experienced, doesn't add up. Rumor is you're no longer completely human."

"And I suppose you always believe what you hear?"

"I believe what I see, and I see that you're a problem for Phoenix."

"Did she say that to you?" John said, frowning.

"Phoenix, never _says _anything…and that's the whole thing. She doesn't talk. Frankly she's spoken more in these two days than she has in three years."

"One would consider that a good thing, in the normal world."

"This _isn't_ a normal world, Reaper. And _she_ isn't a normal person."

"Phoenix can take care of herself." John said.

"Each one of my men can take care of himself, Reaper – doesn't mean we don't look out for each other."

"Now, why would I want to hurt your girl, Genghis?"

"I wouldn't know, Reaper," Genghis narrowed his eyes, scanning John's face. "Why would you?"

"Look –"

"_You_ look! As of now, I am _now_ your CO. You and your sister are observers. I don't give a fuck what the orders are – I want my men out of here as soon as possible."

"I respect that," John said. "But it wouldn't be of any use getting them out just before a possible invasion or attack, now would it?"

"No, it wouldn't." Genghis agreed. "Precisely why I'm giving this two more days."

The door opened to the weapons lab and they both headed in. The bigger more advanced weapons were relocated four years ago before the base was completely sealed off. Poet had discovered a hidden stash with weapons used commonly by special ops in combat, possibly left there for requirements of any team that would come in the future on any assignment, like theirs had come today. John was relieved to hear that the crates were untouched and didn't show use for four years. It put the odds against any terrorist infiltration of the base and internal conspiracy, but also confused their dilemma further.

John helped Genghis pull out the three crates and transfer them to a conveyor. They air between them had been tense and John decided against trying to ease Genghis' weariness. There really was no point.

John hauled the last box, which had replacement ammunition in it onto the conveyor when he noticed a nano wall further away. He asked Gryffin to pull up a schematic onto the console – it implied the room behind it to be the artillery section.

"Any video?"

"_It's took dark – thermal reads indicate no life signs. Data logs indicate one tanker's still there, it's been abandoned. Looks like an ancient elephant which is pretty much useless."_

Something pricked John at the back of his neck. Without waiting for Genghis' consent he headed towards the room. For some reason Genghis didn't stop him or protest. Instead, quietly followed him and even punched in the access commands.

The nano wall sparked little before it materialized. John and Genghis cautiously ventured through it. Genghis left it open and turned on the lights.

Sure enough there was something which looked like a tanker, covered under the sheet. John explored the room, and Genghis lifted the sheet to check the tank.

"It's older than half a century." John heard Genghis say. "Seems like it was built in1998. Wonder why it isn't in the war museum?"

"Maybe they were restoring it or something," John mumbled as he punched in the access codes to another wall – which was the biggest nano wall he'd ever seen.

"We didn't explore this part before." Genghis said. "I guess it slipped our minds."

John didn't process what Genghis said.

"Reaper?"

"Genghis?"

"Yeah?" Genghis came around and stopped when he saw what John saw. "That's a big ass nano wall."

John nodded at him before he stepped through it; when Genghis came in and turned on the power, both men gasped.

They were standing in what seemed to look like a hangar about five miles long. The exit of the hangar sloped gradually upwards. As they walked closer they saw that the height of the slope pretty much covered the depth of the base and led to a trapdoor that seemed like it could accommodate a jet.

John frowned. "Who's checking the southern perimeter, on the surface?"

Genghis pursed his lips for a minute and said, "Phoenix? Why?"

"Have they reported in to you?"

"Yeah, twice."

"Did she mention a gate? Or the opening of this hangar?"

"I don't remember – she would have noticed it, I'm sure…but…"

"Exactly," John turned around and began walking towards the nano wall.

"Hey! Wait, what are you-?"

"That slope is mechanically activated," John said. "If all UAC protocols were followed when the base was shut down, that bridge should have been retracted."

"What if someone forgot to put it down?"

"I don't think so –" John said. "Besides, you said, Phoenix hasn't mentioned the entrance of this hangar, right?"

"No," Genghis said, "I said, _I _don't remember her mentioning it."

"Whatever." John stalked determinedly towards the airlock. "I'm going to the surface to check this out."

----

It had been nearly two days since they landed. Crappy canned food, crappy air conditioning and crappy communication with HQ and basically to summarize it – crappiest mission.

She'd had worse missions before.

Missions where she'd thought she'd be stuck hungry, thirsty and sleepless for weeks. Then there was that whole ordeal on Deimos; more blood than she had seen in a life time.

She didn't even want to go down the CO line of thought. Before Genghis she pretty much got kicked around squads getting transferred so often she began to think that she _actually_ attracted scum COs.

There were also missions where the CO and other dicks wouldn't stop feeling her up. There was one, when one of her colleagues, actually got too desperate and tried to force himself on her and when she rendered his 'performance' inactive, temporarily, she'd been and her CO nearly deemed to be an insurrect and later sent on probation on the charged with assault. Then there was that time her CO thought that the life of an innocent civilian wasn't half as important as his getting back in time for a stupid poker game.

All these were worse than this mission. After all she was in one of the most prestigious special operations squad under an acclaimed CO who despite being a notorious prick _actually_ respected her, her colleagues liked her and – whether she liked it or not – they were pretty protective of her. She had been so used to discrimination that the fact that they considered her their friend actually took her by surprise. An honor she would never forget or disappoint. She actually _was_ allowed to voice opinions – a liberty she took so seriously that she exercised it only when absolutely necessary. The good thing about being with the Rangers was that no matter how hard their previous missions were, somehow, being with these people who had unknowingly become a surrogate family to her actually made her feel positive.

Above all else, the Rangers had provided her the opportunity to use her education in military sciences and she was finally able to use her brain for something productive than just blowing things up.

Her mother had raised her to believe that irrespective of what they did – you don't pass judgment in anyway – and the drawback of her job was that she had to use weapons which she despised to kill people. A lot of her mother's principles had lost their effects on her, ever since Snakeeeyes murdered her family – mostly overclouded by hatred and resentment, but a fair amount of them stuck all the way. So, though she didn't and actually never showed it to Genghis she was actually relieved that she had made it in.

No, this wouldn't be her worst mission but it was the crappiest.

She told herself it was the food. Which never was a problem because she actually had tasted Genghis' cooking.

Then she told herself it was the fact that they knew nothing about this place or the creatures. Which again did not matter, because sometimes their missions actually got called off because they couldn't find anything that would solve whatever problem they were sent to solve.

Then she told herself it was the heat which was beating down on her head as she walked the perimeter of the base in broad daylight searching for any framework for the shield.

Then, she told herself that the crappiness could be attributed to Reapers presence and that blocking him and shutting him down whenever he got in her face would change that. It didn't work, obviously – because Reaper didn't hound her so much after their conversation in the Ark, and it annoyed her because she began to wonder why.

Finally she came to the conclusion that it was all these things combined with the fact that she actually wanted to laugh every time something funny happened.

Something was changing within her – something was crumbling her shields, something was making her express her feelings a little more than normal, something was making her _want_ to spend time with people, making _want_ to live and stop existing.

More often than once she actually let a smile slip.

Whatever it was…she didn't like it.

It was not good – either she was getting too familiar with her peers or John was opening up the walls she had so carefully built by his mere presence.

Finally, fed up with the burning sun, Phoenix put on her glares as she kicked a stone in the general direction of the perimeter, propping her gun against her knee she pulled off her jacket and tied it by her sleeves around her waist. Her body actually thanked her for the relief from the heat.

The hot Nevada air sifted around with her hair as she headed towards the last tower post of her quarter. Poet had taken the north and west, Hobbit had taken east and she had taken south.

She was informing Poet of this over the comm when she paused within a meter of the tower.

"_Phoenix?"_

"Yeah, that's about it. Over."

"_Out_."

There it was…that darned feeling again.

_Don't turn around_, she told herself. _You're probably wrong._

She wasn't – that feeling never was, and she did turn around. She wanted to kick herself when her confirmation came in Reaper's form, headed towards her, wearing a pair of glares too.

She hated being right.

She hated feeling his presence even before he turned up.

"You'll get yourself burned." He said when he came within a foot's distance.

She didn't answer.

"You're wearing those glasses, you know." He gave her that condescending smile. "I can't read your answers. Either take them off or open your mouth."

"Did you want something?" she said, curtly.

Through those glasses of his she couldn't make out what he was doing, because he was silent for an unusually long time.

"Yeah, I wanted to check that gatepost, again."

"That's up north."

"I know."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because, my dear warm welcoming friend," he said, sarcastically, "there's a south gate, too."

_Idiot_, she thought. "No," she said.

"What?" He inclined his head as though he hadn't heard her.

"I said: _No_!" She said, louder.

"I heard you the first time. No, what?"

"No, there is no south gate."

"What are you talking about?" John suddenly looked around and then back at her. She didn't need to see his eyes to know his expression was somewhere around incredulity. "Of course, there is one!" He said. "There's the entrance to the underground hangar before it, too."

"You really think, I wouldn't have noticed, Reaper?" she hung her gun around her shoulder and folded her arms.

John folded his arms and said, "First off, I'd prefer it if you called me John."

"I'll call you whatever I want."

"Second off," he said, stressing on his words. "I'm wondering the same thing, why didn't you notice the south gate?"

Phoenix pulled her glasses up over her forehead and glared at him as though he had gone mad.

"What?" he said, after two seconds of silence.

"First thing – why did you come to check the south gate specifically? And second, how do you know there is a south gate?"

John shrugged. "Because according to the schematic, the south gate is in front of the entrance to the underground command bunker. You know the one through which the artillery passes through directly to the weapons lab?"

"What?" Phoenix pulled out her scanner and reran the schematic on it. "There's no south gate! Only the fencing. See, it's not even on the map."

"That's ridiculous," he said, "Show me." He yanked her scanner and saw the schematic. Phoenix folded her arms and waited for him to realize she was correct, there was no gate on the map

"And besides, even if it weren't on the map, I would have seen it."

"Genghis and I were checking Ordnance research," John said, frowning, "and I saw the inside of the entrance. It has to be activated from both ends. He's waiting down."

"Wait a minute," she said. "According to you there's a gate, with a surface entrance? Like the north one, only it doesn't show on the map."

"Yeah."

"John," she said, "I've scanned the whole perimeter. There was _no_ gate."

"What are you talking about?" John again wheeled around to check. "What do you mean there's no gate?"

Phoenix sighed. "If it would satisfy you to check it yourself, be my guest." She turned around.

"No," John said, grabbing her arm to stop her. "You're coming with me."

"What?" She protested as he dragged her towards the coordinates. "Hey! Stop pulling me! I'm not coming with you anywhere? I've seen that gate and I know for sure…I…Reaper! John! Goddammit!"

He wouldn't listen to her. She spewed and sputtered, kicked her feet and her boots collected dust as they slid along the ground. She even tried to kick him as he dragged her along with him but he was too strong and too fast.

"Oh you're just enjoying this aren't you, you prat!"

Then she wished she hadn't opened her mouth. John stopped and turned to face her – he was too close. Then he gave her that stupid grin, that cocky stupid grin that made her feel too feminine for her own good, and drawled in a way that should have irritated her and not made her feel like giggling like an idiot – much to her chagrin. "Or else I wouldn't have been doin' it sweetheart!"

Phoenix gritted her teeth and flung her hand out of his grip.

"I'm not your sweetheart!" She mumbled, as she nursed the spot where he had held her arm. He continued grinning at her.

"What are you smiling at?"

"You look like a kid whose candy got taken away for misbehavior!"

"No I look like a kid whose been forcefully dragged against her own will!" She retorted.

"Well at least, we agree there." He chuckled softly.

"Huh?"

"That you're a kid?"

"I'm a wha-" Her face straightened when she saw that he had successfully pulled her leg.

"Argh!" She growled and pushed him backwards as he started laughing. "What's so funny you asshole?"

She was so mad at him! And the nerve he had! He still laughed as he held his ground. She wanted to laugh too – that's what she was mad at.

"You seem to have gained your balls now that no one's here to breathe down your throat with the comms being down and all!" She said folding her arms across her chest.

He stopped laughing and kept a lopsided smile which was doing something to her. He said nothing.

"What are you staring at?"

Silence.

Okay – obviously he wanted nothing more than to annoy her so she would not give him the pleasure. So using her amazing ability to be equally silent she stood her ground and they both stared at each other not seeing each others eyes because of their shades.

When John began to fidget, Phoenix heaved an internal sigh of relief, sure that he was going to give in and stop bugging her; and when the stupid smile faded out of his face, she relaxed her stance and hoisted her gun over her shoulder and began to say, "Look, we have a lot of things to do so let's stop playing childish games and…what…?"

She broke off, when she realized that somewhere between her words he had come close in front of her – way too close.

"Now what?" She said, trying to show anger and not her discomfort.

"Childish games." He said, softly.

"Aye – well, don't you agree?…" Her accent began to thicken; a problem whenever she got nervous. Gaining control of her language she said, "I mean, we're just going to stand and stare at each other all day, then we're never going to find out…"

"Phoenix."

"What?"

"Shut up."

Quinn sucked in a deep breath as he extended his hand to her face and gently pushed her shades up and let it rest over the top of her forehead.

He'd exposed her eyes.

She moved back but he kept a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving away.

Phoenix purposely but unobtrusively shook her head, the shades slid down back to their position. Anyone would think it happened by mistake.

Anyone…but the man in front of her.

He pulled the glares away from her eyes, gripping her shoulder to stop her from retreating.

"Are you scared of me Phoenix?" He said slowly.

She swallowed and tried to keep up a stare into where his eyes would have been if she could see them. "No." She said.

"Then why are you running away?" He came, closer – she could feel his breath on her forehead; he tucked the glares into his breast pocket.

"I'm not," she said.

"No?" He nudged her to come closer, but she was frozen in her spot.

"This isn't fair protocol, Reaper. You're invading my space."

"Well," he said, gently teasing, "what are you going to do about it?"

She shrugged her shoulder, causing his hand to retract and then stepped away. "This."

He stood there for two seconds and then nodded, he took her glares out of his pocket and handed it to her. She sighed and extended her hand to take it but before she could do anything he caught her hand and hauled her towards himself. She gasped loudly as she collided against his body, and he steadied her with his hands, painfully gripping her arms.

"Goddammit Reaper!" She gasped.

"What?"

"Stop it! What do you want from me?" She cried. "I…I'm not…"

"Forgiveness."

That made her stop struggling. "What?"

"Forgive me, for…for not…"

"I told you before," she said, cutting him off before he could affect her. "It's okay. It was your job…"

His hand pressing against her face silenced her. She didn't want to do it – but she did. She closed her eyes and leaned into that touch – that familiar gentle touch.

"Please stop." She pleaded in a whisper.

"Kaela," He said so softly. Her eyes shot open.

"I'll call you that, right now. Okay? The last time, please!"

She swallowed and allowed him to see the hurt she was feeling.

"The last thing I want to do," he said, "is hurt you all the more, Kaela. Do you believe that?"

"Yes."

"Don't fight me, _please_, Kaela. I don't want anything more than friendship."

She sobbed and closed her eyes, fighting off the tears. His thumb running over her cheek just caused her heart within her to well up and want to fling her arms around him and let go.

No, her logical mind argued. Don't be a fool.

"It's not you I'm fighting," she said in a strangled whisper.

She opened her eyes and looked at the shades that covered his. There was no need to see his eyes to see his expression. She felt his question. 'Then who?'

"Myself," she whispered, sobbing. She pulled away from him, looking at the ground – he let her go. "I'm fighting myself – everything about myself, John. The past, the memories, who I was – who I am now. It's like…I'm at war within myself."

He said nothing.

She looked up at him, with a determined expression. "And this is a fight I have battle out on my own."

She saw John moisten his lips with his tongue. He sighed and nodded. She felt relief flood over her. His nod was a final commitment. He would not interfere any more…at least she hoped so.

She looked away from him and then at the Nevada horizon. Neither of them said anything for a long time. She was grateful because that time allowed her mind and body to calm down.

His cold, commanding voice had returned when he finally spoke. "We better get to the location of that gate and find out what's going on. Ready, soldier?"

_Soldier_.

Phoenix took in a deep breath and then turned around and raised her head as a sign of attention. "Yes, sir."

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(A/N: sorry had a lot of work to do. Please review. It helps me write more!)


	14. Chapter 14

(A/N: Know its been a while but had some work. Not to mention the writers block. Finally got that out of the way. Reviews are the best solution to writers block you know….i sound desperate. Yes…I know. Enjoy!)

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-14-

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Quinn was beginning to think she was completely off her rocker.

Reaper strode quietly and commandingly ahead of her. He wasn't talking or trying to make an effort to get her to talk. In fact, he hadn't said anything in the last five minutes. And she wasn't about to start a conversation even though they had circled the south perimeter like a million times.

Okay, not a million…but at least thrice.

He didn't quip, he didn't invade her space, and he didn't even act like a smartass. It was almost as if they had no link outside of this mission. He was being a proper soldier, and considering between the two of them, he was her senior, an appropriate commander. She silently obeyed his orders. Scanned this, stomped on that, kicked the dust over here and felt the ground over there. All dandy – exactly how she was wishing it should be before their encounter less than half an hour ago.

And for some reason, _that_ was the problem.

_Maybe it's my hormones,_ she thought, kicking the dust as she headed towards him _– Yeah, that's it. I must be in PMS!_

Wham!

She didn't realize she had been staring at the dust while she walked and slammed straight into his back; which as thick as a brick wall. Reaper whirled around.

"Dammit Phoenix!" She heard him as she tried to shake the birds that twittered around out of her head. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry sir!" She stopped her self, mid-recoil. She still had her shades on so she doubted that he saw her embarrassment. She rubbed her nose – he really was as thick as a wall! It actually hurt!

"You okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Stop calling me, sir!"

"Yes, sir." She said, inadvertently. She didn't bother to tell him that she addressed anyone who behaved as a CO as 'Sir'.

"Phoenix."

"Sorry, I mean, Reaper."

He smiled that damned smile of his. She hoped the heat she felt on her cheeks was due to the hot desert. Reaper turned around and sighed in exasperation. Phoenix gathered herself and decided that now was the time to make her point.

"I told you there's no gate. No bunker…nothing." She said.

He rubbed his face with his hands. A gesture she remembered he often did when he was at a loss for ideas.

"These are the coordinates, Phoenix." He said. His tone suggested he was convincing himself and not her.

"Reaper, even if the bunker opening was here – we would have found an outdoor hatch. Something to activate it from the outside. And look – there's the fencing all around. It doesn't make sense to have no gate..."

She suddenly frowned.

"What?" he said.

"That's odd."

"What is?"

"Was this a military base?"

"UAC was pretty much privately owned but…they had military projects."

"How involved were they – I mean…with the military?"

"I don't know…quite a bit, why?"

"Odd."

"Why?"

"Well, usually, standard protocol for any base to have a minimum of three gates and the bunker by protocol should be…" She broke off midway, and then cursed. "Dammit!"

He took off his shades. "What?"

She ignored him and grabbed his scanner and retrieved the expected coordinates. "Bloody hell!" She hissed.

Reaper grit his teeth as he watched her. She suddenly whirled around and then started talking into her comm saying something to Poet about some goddamned interface and technical mumbo jumbo.

He knew that habit – he recognized it from ten years ago. Her face would suddenly brighten up when an idea struck her and she would first start mumbling to herself and talk in gibberish he couldn't understand.

He had hated that habit at the time – then spent the next one year trying to get the image out of his head.

He sighed and shook his head. Had it really been that long? He had spent his entire life convincing himself that Philadelphia was stuck in his head because of a million excuses from being the most gruesome mission at that time to the horrors of having to get out of the place alive and all that crap. Had he really succeeded that well to get her out of his head? Could he have stuck her so far back into his mind that he _actually_ wouldn't recognize her? He told himself again, it was the fact that she had changed – her face, the way she behaved – hell! Even her name!

Reaper refrained from voicing his groan at the nagging voice in his head.

Sam was right…he'd been practicing hiding for so long he no longer understood the difference between running away and endurance.

Cold – she had become probably. Distant – very much so. Yet, as Reaper watched her hurry forwards in some direction, he saw beyond what to another would appear as reasonable interest.

She had succeeded in doing some hiding of her own too, it seemed.

She was excited – he could see it in her face – at least whichever part was not covered by her shades. Her cheeks had taken on that familiar glow – and it wasn't the heat. Reaper saw beyond what to another would seem as mere interest…he saw the excitement and he was sure if he took off her glares her eyes would shine brightly as they always did when she had a brainwave.

_...Myself...I'm fighting myself_ ...

At least she knew whom she was fighting. Who the fuck was he fighting? At Mars – it was his childhood. What was it here? What was it with her?

John knew the answer. He just didn't dare admit it to himself. John sighed and let her talk to Poet over the comm without interrupting – he wasn't that great with techno babble anyway. He recognized the spot that he had followed her to were the coordinates they had come in search off. He found it odd that after all her protests and arguments _she_ was the one who suddenly came back here nodding her head and talking to Poet over the comm.

He knew there was no point even trying to ask her what she was on about – she'd probably say something half way and then get distracted. At least, the girl _he_ knew would.

What about the girl now? Was she really that different?

And what was she doing….?

John's jaw dropped slightly as he saw her get on all fours and start shaking the dust. That's all there was…dust and an occasional spot of pavement. The base had been masterfully constructed below the surface around the ark – there was near nothing above – except for the occasional helipads. She had been right – there _was_ nothing. So what was she looking for?

"Phoenix?"

No response.

"What the fuck are you…?"

John broke off and made a face. He watched her remove her glove and tuck it into her belt hurriedly and then palm the surface.

Just before he was about to ask her if she had lost something, he saw the glove fall out of the belt on the ground. She didn't notice, so John sat on his shins and picked up the glove. Her hand was moving around randomly and slowly, her fingers sifting through the dust as though she was shaking gold nuggets out of sand.

…_you have an artist's hand…_

_He let go of her hand. This was crossing his comfort zone._

…_Eh? And what would ye know about 'em artists?..._

_The mischievous was glint was back on her eyes. He couldn't help smiling. It was infectious._

Her fingers sank into the ground – that hand was no longer small – it was longer and slender…

He looked away. Some part of his mind was aware that his heart was pounding. "You mind telling me what you're look for?"

No answer.

…_I'm an archaeologist, right? We need to be artistic! We work with brushes and those tiny knives…_

…_Oi!...She swatted him._

…_Hey!...He rubbed his shoulder._

…_What a loaddadosh!…First you tell me ye grew up on Mars…and now yer tellin' me yer an archaeologist!..._

…_I'm not lying!...I studied archaeology. And there's an archaeological dig at Mars, you know..._

…_That's absolute shite! Yer such a liar! So whendya get the time to be a soldier an' all? Eh?..._

…_First of all – I don't understand your English – speak slowly…_

…_Oh! So now yer insultin' me ainglish! Yer a real somethin' aren' ya?..._

She suddenly crouched up and started moving in a horizontally straight direction, keeping her fingers firmly in the dust. John stood up and followed her.

"Phoenix." He droned. "Are you going to tell me what you're doing or do I have to shake it out of you?"

No answer.

She had moved quite quickly away from him. John sighed and jogged up to where she was. Again she went down on all fours.

This was ridiculous!

He prodded her shoulder. He sighed and waited. He wanted to choke her and maybe pound her skull a bit to get the answer out but something told him she was on to something.

"If you know you're seeing an illusion, John…"

He looked up. It was the way in which she addressed him that he was startled. He could make nothing out from her half covered face.

He pulled off his shades and put them into his pocket as she continued, softly "If you know…and you're damned sure the wall that you see before you is not real – but you have to get past it and you can't. What do you do?"

…_If ye know that what yer seein' is a dream…it's not real and ye have to get past it, what d'ye do, John?..._

_John held the trembling girl in his arms. The nightmare – whatever it was had shaken her too much._

…_I try and wake up…_

…_But it's _too_ real. It's so real that as long as ye see it ye kin' never move ahead…ye want tah' move…but ye jus' kain't.._

_John pulled her in closer and smoothened her hair. She's only a child…he told himself. She's only a child. You're not allowed to feel what you're feeling. Stop it. It's an illusion._

…_I guess…He said…I'd just close my eyes and walk ahead…_

John sighed and bit his lip. "I guess I'd just close my eyes and…

"…Walk ahead." She said with him simultaneously as he completed his answer.

"But if it is so real that you can actually feel it?" Her voice had something he hadn't heard in a while. Hope. "I mean – so real that as long as your eyes are open you can not possibly get past this wall."

Fed up of being unable to see her eyes he pulled her shades over her forehead and then allowed it to rest on the crown of her head. She didn't look like she minded his action. In fact, he doubted she even noticed that he had done that.

Her eyes were bright and glistening.

_John stared at the fire as her sobs subsided._

…_When I'd dream at night…I mean…like a nightmare?...she said._

_He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer. She curled in to him. He sighed…This is innocent…He told himself…She's only thirteen. I do not feel anything for this…this…child! _

…_the dream would be so real…she continued…that I knew it was a dream and I jus' couldn't wake up. Me mam, she'd come an' hold me, but all I could feel is this monster…or dragon…breathing on me. I couldn't even 'ear me mam's voice…_

"Kae –" He caught himself before he used her name. "Kelly?" he said, clearing his throat. She didn't notice the slip of tongue.

She took his right hand and placed on the ground where her hand was. She placed her palm gently on the back of his hand.

"What is it?" he said. He nearly choked the words out.

She pressed the balls of her fingers on his nails…forcing him to feel the ground. John looked at her hand, outlined by his, and placed atop of each other.

He felt nothing under his fingers.

_John pulled her face back and wiped the sweat off her brow. He looked into her eyes. They were bright and glistening against the firelight._

…_then I'd tell meself…It's just a dream…it's not real…it's not real…_

"It's not real." She whispered and closed her eyes. John stared at her as she continued to press his fingers on the ground. He still felt nothing but looked at her face. Calm and serene. A lock of hair fell over the scar and covered it as she lifted her head a little to face the wind.

"It's not real." She said, again.

She was thirteen again in his sight. Terrified out of her wits, hanging on to him for support.

He exhaled the breath he had held in for so long and closed his eyes and then turned his palm up and interlaced his fingers with her own and reversed the position of their hands, such that hers were below his. He slid his own fingers through the webs of her own and they felt the ground together.

"It's not real." He whispered, with her. He believed her.

And he felt it.

Under the pulps of his fingers he felt it…a slit – so fine that it would seem like a rim of a can before it was opened. His heart pounded and his eyes flew open. The only thing he saw was dust.

But something else was under his fingers. He looked at her. Her eyes were still closed

"You just close your eyes…" she was saying softly. "And you say it's not real…and you walk right through the wall."

John's breathing became laboured as he closed his eyes and opened it again. He felt the ridge – very well, even with his eyes open. But he saw nothing.

So he closed his eyes again and let her guide him. He felt her pulling him towards the east, and he followed her, slowly. They both crawled, hands interlaced, like two blind men groping for a coin.

"I feel it." He whispered, as some point in the middle. She didn't respond but kept guiding him until the ridge became a corner. He felt another ridge perpendicular to the one they had traced.

"It's the edge, of something…" he said. More to himself than her.

He opened his eyes. Still nothing.

She stopped moving. He let his fingers slide up to her wrist and he tapped it. She opened her eyes and looked at their hands. Then she looked at him.

He didn't bother wondering where the ice woman had gone. He knew _that_ chick would soon make a come back and decided to enjoy whatever little of Kaela's normal self he could see.

She took the scanner with her other hand and punched in something. She single handedly fiddled with the scanner with her left hand since her right hand was under his, still pressed against the ground.

John did remember that she was right handed.

He waited patiently watching her every expression – and her face showed all right now – it seemed the mask had melted away…for the moment. She looked ahead of him and then made to stand.

It was only then that he let go.

"Wait here" she said.

He remained crouched on the ground holding the spot where he felt the edge as she stood up and went towards a quadrangular pavement patch, about half a mile away which was once used for parking. She bent down and started groping, keeping her eye on the scanner.

It was only then that what was going on struck like a truck.

"Fuck!" he said slowly as he digested everything.

"FUCK!"

He jumped up. "Kae – Phoenix!" He called to her as he started to jog towards her.

"Yes, John!" He heard her answer. Her back was to him. "I know! Late riser, aren't you?"

"What the fuck is going on! What was I feeling? That was the edge of the hatch, wasn't it?"

He saw that Phoenix's hand had stopped mid way about half an inch about the margin of the pavement in the air. He saw her press her hand down, grasping the pavement's yellow demarcation. He could have sworn he heard a click.

He slowed down to a stop and braced his thighs, panting. "Why the fuck can't we see it?"

She suddenly whirled around startled and landed on her bottom. She looked livid.

"What?" He said.

"What the fuck are you doing here!" She hollered. "I told you to wait there!"

"What? Why?"

"John! Now we've lost that spot!"

"What spot?"

"The hatch, dummy!" She gave him an indignant gasp and turned around and started patting the ground next to where she had grasped.

"What…the hell?" He crouched and rolled his eyes.

She muttered. "Now we're going to have to grope for that thing again, do you know that that thing has a five minute window period before it locks down automatically?"

"Wha –What are you talking about? What's with all the fussing!" He said.

"I'm fussing!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "I'm fussing? Oh that's right! I'm fussing!"

"Now you sound like a broken record." He smiled, shaking his head. He sat on his haunches, supporting himself with one finger on the ground. "You wanna tell me what's going on? And don't worry. One of us can look for it again…you can…" He broke off and frowned. "What exactly are you doing…or planning to do?"

Beep!

John was silenced. Maybe he had imagined that! But Phoenix was beaming. She pressed on the tar ground again.

Beep!

"Where the fuck is that coming from?" John whispered.

"It's not real!" She said, knowingly.

"Phoenix. That beep was real!"

"No….no…the beeps are real but…but…" John saw her fingers drumming in the air as she gently slithered her hand around a rectangular area of the pavement. Then she used her index finger to pat a trace around a discrete rectangle.

"But what?" Suddenly the back of his neck began to tingle.

She reached one corner of the rectangle she had traced and then pressed down.

Beeeep!

"Phoenix…" John said, his voice taking a warning tone. "You're not being very coherent."

She cursed under breath and threw up her hands. "I'm also blind."

"What?"

"As…in…I can't see…"

"See what? The imaginary beeper?"

Phoenix rolled her eyes and looked and him, cocking her head as she did so, and said in a condescending tone. "John…all hatches have an external console. Right…?"

"Yes. So we can activate it externally, if needed. You're telling me that tar road is the console?" He laughed. "What is it like? Touch screen…oh sorry! Touch road!" He snorted at his own joke, and was about to break into a laugh when she pressed again.

Beeeeeeeeeeep!

John sighed exasperatedly and said. "Okay! Given! That is the console…which we can't see…!"

"Why? You believed that was the edge of the trap door right?"

"I could feel that, Phoenix! Maybe we can't see it, because it is camouflaged in dust…really well camouflaged!"

Phoenix shook her head and then took his arm. John nearly fell forward because he was supporting himself on that hand. Instead he recovered and landed on his knees as she pulled his palm.

"I feel the road."

"Pretend its not there."

"What?"

"I'm serious, John! Remember the hatch."

John closed his eyes and took a good two minutes convincing himself that the road wasn't real and then he let her press his fingers down.

He felt something all right.

He opened his eyes. It seemed as though he was pressing the road, but he _felt_ his fingers sink in below the level of the pavement and feel something that he knew from memory was the dial of a console.

"Now…assuming that the numbers are in the original configuration…" She said, biting her lip. "Damn! I wish we could…"

John pressed on what he though should be '1'. The number sounded like the beep that came from an ordinary console key designated as 1. Then he pressed '2' and then what he thought would be '0'. The sound changed both times.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

John groped towards where the reset button would be and pressed it, hearing the distinctly different sound.

"I have a good memory for sounds." He didn't bother to add. 'Ever since I've been injected with alien DNA'. "I can recognize most of them. That was a 1, 2 a zero and then a reset."

"Oh! Good!" She beamed. She seemed relieved. "So then key in the override."

"Phoenix…I am not going to key in the override until you tell me what we're dealing with here. Why can I not see what I can so clearly feel?"

She sighed and then pursed her lips in a pensive pause.

John sighed and then said. "And most importantly, Phoenix, why is it that I can _only_ feel it _after_ I believe that it is not there?"

She sighed deeply again.

"And what's with all the sighing?" He said, indignantly.

She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not sure exactly, how it works…but I believe we are dealing with more than just an electromagnetic net over this place."

"Uh huh…and?"

"And I think part of the 'more' happens to be some sort of…"

John waited expectantly. "Of…what?"

"Of holographic interface."

"What?" he nearly laughed it off.

"Look!" she said, raising her hands and stopped him from calling her insane. "I don't know how it works – but I know that holographic interfaces can disguise…"

"I've played VR games, Phoenix, I know what holographic interfaces can do. The thing is – if you put your hands through it, it will pass right through. I felt the dust! I felt the road!"

"That's the catch…" she said, sighing. "The technology is a little more advanced than you'd like to believe."

"What…you mean they can simulate touch sensibilities now?"

"It's a really long story, John." She pleaded. "And I'll have to repeat it to Genghis. More importantly, I'm not the expert on this one. Poet is. I promise we'll tell you everything. Just…please…" She motioned her head towards his.

John debated for a minute and then agreed that she was correct. He closed his eyes and imagined the console and then allowed his instincts to guide his fingers as he punched in the numbers. A higher pitched noise indicated that he should swipe his card. He felt the slot and then swiped it. A loud distinct noise could be heard back where they had first felt the hatch.

The sound of a large trapdoor sliding open.

They both stood up and jogged towards where they had once been. The noise continued. But all they saw was the dust. Phoenix moved towards the coordinates and crouched down. Then she called Poet on the comm and told him to get his ass to the south quarter.

"I don't get it…" John said, crouching down and joining her as she started feeling the ground. "We _even _heard the hatch open – shouldn't the interface deactivate once…"

"Not necessarily…" She reached forward and covered the area with a wide sweep of her arm. "Blast!"

"What?"

"Oh nothing! I have to do this with my eyes closed. This thing is so believable that every time we touch…I touch that I can't even feel it! That's why I told you to stay here!"

John shook his head. "Well!Excuse me for wondering what you were up to!"

"I told you to wait…John! I mean these coordinates can't give us exact measurements."

"So why don't we just walk around?"

"Because you'll fall in the hatch, dummy! It's like a blind man walking over a ditch!"

"First off – what's with the dummy thing? And second – I thought you said you can _feel_ this hologram. So how would we fall – I mean – wouldn't we be like walking on air or something?"

"First off – I'm calling you a dummy because you clearly _are_ one! Secondly, no holographic technology is that good that it can cover a wide area like the hatch space. It's like a trick – John! It's not the real thing!"

"Hey! I'm not a _dummy_! And I'm sure there was no technology that was good enough to generate such high frequencies to access the hatch from outside – but we were wrong about that weren't we?"

"Well I'm telling you – there's no such technology -"

"You're actually negating yourself!"

"I am not."

"Yeah, you are."

"I most certainly am not."

"Yes. You. Are."

"You know nothing about holograms and you most certainly are a dummy if you believe that sort of shite that we can walk over thin air!"

"You're the one who said it unless I believed it wasn't there then only…"

"Oh! Shut up!" she said, shaking her head and treading slowly around the area, kicking the dust. "You're pissing me off!"

"Oh yeah?" John said, gritting his teeth. "What a coincidence? _You_ are pissing _me_ off!"

"Bugger off!" she said, kneeling down and feeling the ground. "You're ruining my concentration!"

Who the hell did she think she was? "Hey! Just who the hell do you think you are?"

"I am obviously the one who was paying attention in tactics and warfare class…unlike you."

"What the fuck does tactics and warfare have to do with technology?"

"Golden rule – well! – when you don't know the enemies defences – _don't_ experiment!"

"That's not the golden rule!"

"Well it's a pretty damned _good_ rule!"

She had that annoying, self-assured _condescending_ attitude that pissed him off. John just kicked the dust right into her face and then smiled smugly. She burst into a series of coughs and sneezes, clearing her face before jumping up and charging at him. He held his arms out and caught her by the shoulders.

"You bastard!" she screamed as she struggled against his grip – he grinned cockily and kept her at arm's distance – literally. He was too strong for her.

"You self-righteous…!"

"Oh? I'm self-righteous!" John laughed sarcastically. He sneered. "Look in the mirror, sweetheart!"

"I'm not your sweetheart, you arrogant prick!"

"That's right…feel free to use the Irish slang."

"That's not even Irish!" She swung her leg at him but he pushed her away, so she ended up swinging her foot in the air. Grunting in annoyance, she pushed at him – he kept her restrained.

He yanked her by the arms and slammed her into his body.

"What the fuck…?"

"You're really a wild cat aren't you? Phoenix?" John bit the words out – using his shin to block her kicks. He twisted her arms, till she hand them behind her back. She writhed, struggled, thrashed and resisted like a caged animal.

"And what are we fighting about…again?" John mocked her. "Holograms?"

She stopped struggling and growled. He smiled. Considering that he was the stronger party – he enjoyed every minute of it.

"Well, you started it!" She whined.

He let her go.

She groaned as she nursed her arms where he had gripped them.

Unable to resist he taunted. "I don't think it's broken…maybe a little band aid would help."

She snarled at him and shoved him backwards. John stood his ground. He laughed when he saw her exasperation that he didn't even budge.

She wrinkled her nose and then this time gave him a stronger thrust. He laughed – since he was so rooted she had to endure the recoil and she stumbled back.

The third time she came at him, he caught her arms and pulled her close. She froze.

He smiled, calmly. "We've done this before, haven't we?"

They had…in Philadelphia. That time they were playing. She'd try and shove him with all her strength and see what it took to make him fall.

Her eyes showed that she remembered. Those steely grey eyes took a softer tone as they searched his. John let go of her right arm to shift a lock of hair away from her forehead. She slapped his arm away, and this time she pushed away from him – the recoil made her stumble back a few steps more.

Seeing the look on her face itself John realized that he had overstepped the line he had promised not to cross.

"Phoenix…" He started to say but broke off when she raised her hand in warning and shook her head – holding his eyes the entire time.

John let his shoulders sag in hopelessness as he rubbed his face – he was about to turn around went he saw her stumble backwards…and fall.

Somewhere in the short expanse of time his brain stepped on the gas and it seemed as though everything moved in slow motion.

His logic would ordinarily have reasoned saying it was only a small fall. He ordinarily would move forward and then give a hand out to help her stand up – he didn't have to be…_dramatic_.

He didn't know what made him do it – maybe it was the instincts that made his neck tingle and lunge forward and catch her before she would hit the ground.

She gasped at first in surprise as his body hit hers and his arm came around her, twisting her such that he would break her fall. John closed his eyes and waited for the ground to strike his back…but the ground faded away into darkness as he found their encircled bodies – then came her second cry of surprise – they fell right through the ground into what seemed like an abyss.

"Shit!" He cried as his body hit something hard and solid. Pain shot through his spine – but that wasn't they end of it. She cried again and before he knew it he was being toppled over and she was under him – he tried to grab onto their surface but there was nothing – it was flat as a sheet of iron – she suddenly rolled over his hand and then his body and he was again under her

Something was wrong – John realized and instinctively embraced her– they were still moving – not moving – falling…not falling – they were freakin' _rolling_ on something - _downwards_.

Like spool on a flat surface they tumbled about for what seemed like too long a time until somewhere their momentum changed and they turned perpendicular.

John raised his head and found to his horror they were not rolling anymore but far worse they were sliding straight down a very steep incline. The incline was corrugated horizontally and the ridges scratched the skin under his quite sturdy uniform – and for some reason it kept progressing downwards.

John grunted and rammed his heel onto the surface until it struck home – a thin ledge of the corrugations. They slowed down and then suddenly stopped. He looked up at her and saw her arm stretched out – the finger nails clawing into a similar ledge above of them.

"Oww!" he heard her yelp. He winced as he tried to stabilize them, but knew that if he tried to move it would be risky. And judging from their position they still had half of the down slope to cover.

"Kaela?" He whispered. "You okay?"

She panted and nodded vigorously. John would only realize later that he had called her by that name and neither did she.

They looked up – bright sunlight streamed in through the gigantic opening of the gate. He looked at her – there were minor scratches on her face – he wasn't the only one getting scraped by the ridges.

"Where are we?" She wheezed.

"My guess is the hangar." He groaned as he tried to steady them. He needed to sit up.

She grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down. "No, don't move."

"What?" He resisted her and sat up "Why?"

Accidentally his footing slipped. "Fuck!"

This time as their downward descent began again, she got pulled over him because at the time she managed to catch his shoulder he simultaneously grabbed onto her waist to hold on and they began spooling over each other.

"That's why!" he heard her cry as they tumbled on down. Then she suddenly yelped. "Ow! My head!"

He grabbed her head and shoved it into his chest – letting his supporting hand take the beating. When they finally rolled onto the flat ground, she was under him, and he had his head buried into her neck, one arm around her back and the other covering her head.

They both groaned simultaneously. John didn't even bother raising his head – everything was swirling in it. "I think I'm going to need more than coffee to wash this one out." He muttered to himself.

He heard her snort – instead of raising his head he turned it and tucked it into the side of her face and waited till both their breathing slowed. Moving – as it turned proved painful. She mumbled something to which he answered with an impolite 'Huh?'

"I said, are you okay? Is anything broken?"

John grunted and winced as he wiggled his toes and said. "I think just my pride. How about you?"

"I'll live."

He swore he heard a hitch in her breath for about two minutes when she asked. "So, you really are okay, then?"

"Yeah." He groaned, closing his eyes, wishing he could just fall asleep. This was more comfortable than the rolling and the falling.

"Then why aren't you getting off me?"

John raised his upper body and then realized they were in a compromising position – the key element being that their hips were positioned over each other at very suggestive places.

"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly. Then, he groaned and winced as he scrambled off of her and sat on the ground, rubbing his back. "That was fun!" He said sarcastically.

"Yeah," another voice broke in. John and Phoenix looked up to see Genghis, Bazooka and Sandman standing over them with amused expressions on their face.

"It was like watching porn," Genghis cracked sarcastically. "Except, of course, with all the clothes on."

--------------

(A/N: Sorry for type errors. Don't have a beta.

Dr. Masaki. Especially because your compliment fueled this one. Thanks for calling me dedicated, I really and honestly was happy to read that. BTW . Just for the record…I am totally delighted to disappoint you regarding the romance bit.)


	15. Chapter 15

-15 -

"First up." Poet declared. "Virtual Reality 101."

"Oh brother!" Genghis muttered, then gave a deep resigned sigh and leaned back and rubbed his face. "More science crap."

"Brother!" Gamgee snorted. "What's the matter Genghis? Toning down on the curses 'cause you're getting tired?"

Genghis mumbled something incoherent and swatted his hand at Gamgee as if to swat the statement away.

"Wow!" Sam leaned next to him and whispered, mockingly. "He's not even making Gamgee pay hell for that crack – he must be getting tired."

John snorted a small laugh and then directed his eyes towards Phoenix who was drawing a very strange diagram on the screen.

"A hologram is basically a 3D photograph – but…"

John let his mind switch on to 'auto-listen-no-processing' mode as Poet started rattling out the specifics of holographic technology. Genghis was right – this techno babble was really making his ears ring. He let his eyes rest on Phoenix – and maybe his ears perked up a bit when she started rattling on beam-splitters, interference, diffraction – or and a whole lot of what's-it-called stuff.

The ice queen persona albeit a little softer had returned. Saddest thing was her voice had gone back to 'my vocal cords are frozen so I'm not talking in a higher pitched tone of voice'. He had enjoyed hearing her normal regular voice in the time they had spent on the surface. Too bad – none of her team members ever heard much of that voice.

The fact that Phoenix really _preferred_ not to talk unless necessary, became increasingly obvious to John. He failed to understand why she felt the need to hide from these men; especially because she trusted them.

John rubbed his face. He really had to find other things to think about – he'd been giving Phoenix more thoughts than it was worth.

"…the material that replaces film must be capable of changing in response to a varying set of recording beams and input image information…."

They obviously needed to know this to understand it. John observed that Genghis didn't bother objecting to the detailed story unlike he used to. He switched off the 'auto-listen' in his brain and stuck to a simple 'no-processing' mode.

"…such materials are referred to as nonlinear optical materials, and can be realized using a variety of media such as photorefractive crystals, atomic vapors and gases, semiconductors or semiconductor heterostructures…like er quantum wells, plasmas and, even liquids…"

Poet was beginning to get on his nerves. Others were getting restless. The only person who was avidly paying attention was Phoenix.

"…will track changes in the interference pattern formed by the recording beams."

Phoenix was really skinny. He could see her collar bones stick out through her skin. Did that girl even eat?

"As the interference pattern changes, the local absorption and/or phase pattern in the material will also change and replace the original pattern…."

Her hair was tied up – he could see the back of her neck. He noticed that her neck vertebrae stuck out like a skeleton's as she bent to pick up something she had dropped. He wondered if she even met the minimum weight requirement. She certainly looked less than the…

His brain jerked back to reality. What the fuck was he even thinking about? He was practically getting obsessed with Phoenix.

John snapped. "ALL RIGHT!"

Unwittingly he had everyone's attention – including an irked Poet and what must have assumed was an amused Phoenix.

"Sorry, about that," John said sheepishly, recovering his calm. "But Poet…? I think I speak for all of us when I say: what the fuck are you talking about?"

He was relieved to see everyone around him bearing relieved expressions. Except Genghis who said, "I don't believe I'm saying this, but I think I just understood everything he said."

So that's why Genghis wasn't interrupting. Typical of the convenient bastard. John gave Phoenix a pleading look; she shook her head. She was giving her twisted mouth expression – amusement.

"The reason Poet is updating you on holograms," she said, coolly, "is because you need to understand it before we get to what happened out there."

John groaned, rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Sam gave him a consoling pat on his shoulder which gave little comfort. Once again his brain when on 'don't-you-fuckin'-process-this-crap' mode.

_------_

It had no sense of its own existence. Its senses led it – like a light through the darkness – like a guiding hand to the blind. It knew not what it craved – but only that it craved it.

Its eyes read colour as well as heat – its ears heard sounds – like waveforms they bounced off its senses confusing it. Were its eyes its ears and ears its eyes? Were its skin its tongue and tongue its skin? Reason and logic – dictated its mind. Every step was a calculation – every move had its consequence and possible errors were detected.

The smell of the sewers were a fragrance to it. It had grown there. The sewers were its home. Fresh air had a stench. The air tasted dry and sedimented. It had grown dark – but yet not such that its primary vision was impeded. It didn't need to see forms – the heat they emanated were enough.

It didn't have to hear to snap its attention to the sound. It always saw before it saw and heard before it heard. Like a sixth sense.

It knew before it knew.

Several thousands miles away its past, present and future was being discussed by creatures who _thought_ they had created it.

If it could smile in cruelty, it would – but it knew not its own existence to smile. It thought – and it processed – but it never made suppositions or propositions and it never questioned its senses.

If it could suppose or propose it would say, 'the fools!'

--

"The Sensesss."

The voice was husky and would have been the voice of a snake if it could talk.

"Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Each – in its supreme form an advantage to the species that has it as its primary element of warning."

The room was dark and tense. Nobody could see nobody, yet everyone present knew whom the person seated next to them was. They didn't have to see any member to know that nobody wanted to be there. They all had to leave their jobs, their homes, their securities all on the whim of the madman who dictated to them. All of them regretted their ambitious ignorance. All of them wondered if they would return alive.

"Why do you think," The voice hissed. "That man in his quest for perfection has diminished the importance of the senses to a less than perfect state? Do you think it was not possible for him to imbibe it as he evolved? Hmm?"

Everyone had an opinion as to what the answer might be – but no one dared talk. The question was rhetorical. The answer – even if incorrect – had to be one. The one that their leader would state.

"I think it was to perfect his most supreme sense. The one we call our sixth sense. The centre of all senses…"

Silence.

"The brain."

--

It moved with the invisible force that was powered by its senses to its aim. It knew not – whether it was the scent of blood, or the heat emanating from their bodies or the low pitched voices they made. They seemed to be conversing. It knew what conversing was. Yet it never knew what it was for. It never questioned. It always remained solitary and unique. Never was there a similar one life it where it could converse.

The dry Nevada air, wafted around its bodies carrying with it a scent . They were two. Similar scent, similar heat, similar sounds - therefore same species. If it wanted to think – it would think 'Good – their responses will be alike'. But it never thought in such a manner.

Hunger – was a motivator. As was its nature, it had marked them.

Prey.

_------_

…_Well there is, Billy Larkson…'Ees with me from da eight grade…'an 'ees bin askin' me out ever since…but 'Ees got these braces and I don't think it would be fun to kiss 'im…but I really like Adam…I know 'ees a senior an' all but 'ees really cute. But 'ee thinks I'm weird 'cause ov' de accent an' all!..._

…_Well – I don't think you should break Billy's heart – he sounds fun…_

_John felt like drowning himself in something. He was manipulating her to like a boy she didn't like because _he_ – a grown man was _jealous_ of her high school crush! Maybe he was suffering from PTSD…_

Maybe he really was delusional. Why was there this unreasonable idea in his head that Genghis was paying attention only because Phoenix was talking? And what difference did it make if it were true?

"John!" Sam's hiss, jolted him out of his thoughts.

"What?" He hissed back.

"Wake up and smell the fuckin' coffee, Reaper!" Genghis barked. "You've been sleeping with your fuckin' eyes open!" Then he burst into a frivolous laughter at his own joke.

Fortunately for John, no one else found it funny. Phoenix, again, looked amused.

"So – what is the moral of the fabulous story of the wonderful holograms?" John said with mock interest, sarcasm dripping from his question.

"You can see 'em but can't touch 'em." Gryffin said.

"Wait a minute…" John frowned. The words: _it's not real _echoing in his head as he felt the margins of the trapdoor.

Sensing it, before he could voice it Phoenix spoke up in her cool collected voice. "That's the point that I'll be getting to..."

"Oh great!" Genghis muttered. "More Science 101."

"Woah! You really are getting tired." Poet quipped.

John groaned and combed his hair with his fingers. He didn't know it yet – but his senses were heightening.

"Palpable holography works on two principles. One is a very simple – age old trick. Illusionists even use it. If you see it – you believe it. If you believe it – your mind plays tricks on you – you think you can feel it – when in reality – you can't."

She paused for breath then continued. "The second is more complex. Ever since VR gaming became commercial everyone from UAC to GameWorld have been trying to make the experience more real. To make a hologram real – like that doctor on Star Trek – you will need a set of matrices to literally recreate the stimuli out of thin air. Which is still not possible – and may not be for a long time."

"Well – obviously you saw through hologram – so they must have used the first technique." Samantha said. "Tricking your mind."

"Yes and no." Phoenix said. "It would work for small illusions…like mirrors work to make a hole seem deeper. But not for such extensive areas. That hatch is humungous. It was used not just for tanks, but also for stealth jets. Not to mention that the area covered included a wider space – I mean – the south gate. We can't see the damn gate – but we know it is there. The same for the command console. According to the original plans, that console was at a corner of the parking areas for land vehicles. We see the pavement – but not the console."

"So, it's not an illusion?"

"Correction – it's not _just_ an illusion. This is a combination of the two techniques. Using sequences which would cause the visual program to trigger memory patterns in the brain."

"Wha -?" Genghis said.

"I'll explain, Genghis…" Phoenix cut him off. "You create a massive matrix – support it by primers. Primers are like little projectors – you place these multiple projectors and you can create a huge illusion. It forms a dome around the area you want to wall off. My guess is that the primers are at various points around the fencing and it super imposes an image of the compound – on the compound…with a few modifications. Like the absence of the hatch, the gate or even something small, like, the console."

"Sounds tricky." Said, Bazooka.

"Actually – it's not," said Gamgee. "Creating the huge matrix is easy. They do it all the time at GameWorld. All you need is a large space and a lot of projectors."

"Is it just me – or does this matrix seems to be linked to the electromagnetic shield in someway?" said Sandman.

"My guess is," said Smith. "Either the shield is the matrix or vice versa. But that doesn't account for one thing."

"What?"

"When we first landed – if this shield was operational – at the time, the choppers navigational controls would have gone berserk. Electromagnetic fields can cause a lot of screw ups with our electronic equipment especially mobile objects like choppers. The only explanation is that either there is no field – or that…"

"…that it was shut off, to allow landing." John completed for Smith. Something was wrong; John felt something tingling at the back of his neck. Something was going wrong right now.

"The tricky part is just coming." Poet said, unaware of the queer expression on John's face. "The second part – which is the making it _feel_ real is the tricky part. The matrix becomes four dimensional. In 2D you can _see _that it's not real, because of the lack of depth – the third dimension. In 3D it seems real but if your hand through it and you know that it is not real. In 4D, with height, width and depth – you get touch. You touch a certain part of this matrix – the equations trigger a tactile stimulus in your brain."

"Does this technology exist?" Samantha said.

"Even if it did exist – it would be really tough to simulate it for a wide area. "

"It could be fair," said Genghis, who was chewing his lip pensively, "to suppose it is alien technology – considering that this ark was not built by us."

"That's too far a shot," said Poet. "I had access to all recovered technology from the dig at Nevada and Olduvai while I was in R&D. There was no such technology – I don't think anybody dared to hide it, even if they did…" Poet broke off and sighed. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that this technology may not be possible for humans to even imitate."

"Not for Union Aerospace." John said suddenly.

He looked up at all the eyes focused on him. His mind was trying to remember something – he didn't know what.

"Yes," Poet said, his face showing his confusion. "Not for Union Aerospace or anyone else."

"No." John said, coolly. "Not for Union Aerospace, alone."

He looked at each member of the team, one by one until his eyes focused on Phoenix's grey expressionless ones. The tingling had gotten more annoying. His mind had done a mental count – nine were present before him. Two were missing.

Realization dawned on him suddenly. John sat up and looked around. "Where are Gryffin and Hobbit?"

"They're above surface." said, Poet. "I sent them to scan for possible primers. Why?"

John stood up and looked at Genghis. "Gamgee, stay here with Sam and guard her with any form of defence you got. We're going above."

"Woah! Woah! Wait!" Genghis interrupted. "What's wrong?"

"They're in trouble."

"What?" Genghis barked. "How do you know that?"

"I'm coming!" Gamgee said, loudly.

"No, you're staying here."

"Na-ah!" Gamgee shouted. "That's my brother up there."

"And this is my sister, down here!" John growled.

Gamgee came up to him and caught his collar. "Then you'll understand –" the shorter man said, gritting his teeth, trying to hold his anger back. "Why I want to come."

"Hey!" Genghis roared. "How the fuck do you know they are in trouble?"

John inhaled deeply. If something had already happened to Gryffin, Gamgee's emotional lability would compromise them..

"You haven't answered me yet, Reaper!" Genghis shouted. John ignored him. He would have much rather had Phoenix as part of their group – her instincts were damn near as good as his. Which was also a good reason why she should protect Sam. John considered that against Gamgee's loyalty to his sister and decided that the lability was a more reliable thing to handle

"Okay – Phoenix," He said. "Take care of Sam." With his eyes, he added '_please!'_

She read his message and nodded curtly – obviously unhappy about babysitting.

"When we get up there, we'll lose contact – so you two be careful."

The women nodded.

"All right! Men! The only way up is by one surface elevator. When we reach there, we split. Smith and Sandman. Gamgee and Bazooka. Poet, you and Genghis are with me. We need to talk. Let's move!"

"I'm not going anywhere, until I know what the fuck you're talking about." Genghis began to grumble. "I'm the one giving the orders."

"I SAID, MOVE!" John growled.

Genghis gave him the evil eyes and then muttered. "This better be good." Then he shouted at his men, "All right! You heard the man!"

Nothing was said in the elevator. When the elevator stopped on surface level, John assigned each sector to each pair of men and left the larger southern sector to his group.

"Don't attempt to use your comms until you need help, or you are sure the area is secure, or if you have confirmed the positions of Gryffin and Hobbit. Am I clear? I'm not saying don't use it but you don't wanna give away your position _unnecessarily_. "

"Why the hell…" Genghis started but was silenced by a look from John. He nodded.

When they reached the surface and had split up; Poet, John and Genghis formed a triangle around each other with their weapons aimed into the darkeness. All they could see was faint vegetation – and the forms of the other men who were heading towards their assigned directions.

"Why am I following your orders, Reaper?" Genghis mumbled.

"More importantly," Poet whispered. "You said we needed to talk. About what?"

Reaper waited as his instincts guided him. He adjusted his nightvision goggles and then said, "What do you guys know about TethysCorp?"

John wasn't surprised when Poet and Genghis stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him.

----------------------------------------------------

(A/N: Sorry it took me so long. Ran into writers block. Thankfully it was one wonderful reader's reminder about the gore that set me back on track. Now you know why I am so desperate for reviews?

Btw I know nothing about all the techno stuff I wrote – which I'm assuming is fake. So any likeness to anything real is purely coincidental. This is what I like about SciFi. It's so easy to make up your own technology!

PLEASE REVIEW!)


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